Between the Darkness and Dawn
by ABitOfRomance
Summary: A sleeping beauty, a dream, an illusion that simultaneously agonizes and enchants Dr. Carlisle Cullen for eternity. A contemporary vision of the enigmatic beauty of permanent abandonment. Can anyone save him before he falls too far? Who was the victim, was it him? Was it the woman who had forced him to watch as his empire fell? (For the purposes of this story, Esme does not exist.)
1. Lenore

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!  
Let the bell toll!—a saintly soul floats on the the Stygian river  
And, Guy De Vere, hast _thou_ no tear?—weep now or nevermore!

See on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!  
Come! let the burial rite be read—the funeral song be sung!—

An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young—  
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

From _Lenore_ by Edgar Allan Poe


	2. Passage of Time

Carlisle Cullen was a vampire. He'd survived for over three-hundred years in this life frozen and unencumbered with the passage of time. He killed off of animals instead of his natural prey: humans. He preferred to hunt beasts and though the stalking of his natural food source was enticing, he knew that if he tasted even just a drop of human blood, he would turn into a savage beast…a fact he found out long ago.

He perfected his lifestyle through becoming a doctor and was rarely, if ever tempted to taste human blood.

He looked to be in his early twenties, but said he was a few years older as he gave an aura of being very mature. When asked about his young appearance, he said that he studied hard and thus became the best doctor in Forks, Washington. Due to this fact, he was asked to run the hospital where he worked and agreed.

It was near this hospital, he met her. She was just over a foot shorter than he with dark, blonde, flowing hair that reached her shoulder blades and ran into her symmetrical face; Carlisle found she was amazingly clumsy. She tripped over flat surfaces and thin air.

That was what he noticed first. He'd just been getting off his shift and walking to his car when she tripped. She was walking toward the hospital doors and stumbled, though there may have been a reason. When they passed, he gave her a small smile and simply walked along, but during that brief encounter, he felt a pull in his body: a pull to her. It was subtle at first and was absolutely sure she felt it too as that was, he believed, the reason for her tripping. Being the man he was, when the young woman, who was no older than twenty, fell to the pavement, he was by her side in an instant looking for the source of the fall.

"Are you alright?" He asked scanning her body for any visible injuries, the pull became stronger when he placed his hand on her shoulder in an effort of comfort. Carlisle was a very tactile, compassionate man, one of the numerous reasons the nurses and female admins found him so attractive. It might have also to do with the fact that his body gave off pheromones to attract a potential mate or prey, making his hunting skills all the more horrendous. He was a looker with just over six feet of height, a head full of fair blonde hair, much like the woman's own, and eyes, more often then not, the color of amber.

"Yeah…I think so…" the woman was quiet and mumbled her words slightly, she kept her head lowered, feeling a pull that made herself naturally shift closer to the doctor but terrified of who she might see.

Her flowing, bouncy hair, guarded him from seeing what was beneath and when she looked up at him, he noticed a pretty, symmetrical face. Her lips where full and her eyes were dark, much like Carlisle's own when he thirsted for blood. Her skin was pale, though not as much as his. He knelt beside her and helped her up only to have her stumble onto him increasing the pulling feeling tenfold.

"Are you sure?" He asked taking notice that she leaned all of her weight on one foot.

"Uh…" she began but found no other words. When she tried to balance evenly, she found that she could not and cried out in pain.

"Okay, let's get you a wheelchair," he said adamantly, daring her to refuse. When she tried, he shot her a look of: _'This is my job, let me do it. Let me help you.'_

She nodded her head slowly.

"So, what is you name?" He asked. "I need to know…er, for medical purposes." Carlisle tried not to be swayed by the beauty she was with imperfections making her all the more rare.

"Lenore, Lenore Fischer. Most people call me just 'Lea'."

"Okay, 'Just Lea'," Carlisle teased. Throughout his time as being a doctor, he found that the best medicine was laughter, it helped to reduce and get the patient's mind off the pain, "we're going to have to check you in. You won't be here too long, it's probably just a sprain. My name is Dr. Cullen, but you can just call me Carlisle," he told her as he gave her a smile of reassurance.

Lea's felt something but it wasn't the pain in her ankle, in fact, when he looked at her, the pain was numbed and it barely registered.

He easily picked her up, as his vampirism made him stronger than ten men. Carlisle sat her down and wheeled her through the sliding doors. Lenore was absolutely stunned by the cold temperature of his skin.

"Amy?" He called to a woman whom sat behind a desk and perked up at the sight of the man she'd been pining over since the doctor had moved to Forks a few years ago.

"This is Lenore Fischer, she tripped and I believe she has a sprain. Check her in will you?" He asked kindly.

"Yes, doctor," the woman watched as he walked on by and when his back was turned, she caught a glimpse of his back-side.

* * *

"Okay, Lea," Carlisle began when they reached their destination, "I'm going to lift you and move you to the gurney."

"No!" Lea quickly responded. Just as he was about to do his task, the doctor was taken aback and jerked his hands away.

"No," she said more quietly, "I…I think I've got it…" she lifted herself off of the chair and began hopping on one foot toward the bed. It was a terrible idea, she stumbled once again and unintentionally fell into Carlisle sending a shiver of cold and something else shooting though her body.

He picked her back up and set her down with ease, "Wow, you really are clumsy, aren't you?" He said with a smirk.

Lea's face went red, "Yeah, it's a wonder I haven't managed to accidentally get myself killed," she smiled. Carlisle decided he liked her smile and shifted her weight to lay on the bed to elevate her injury and so it can be examined.

"I'm going to need you to take off your shoes," Lenore compiled, "and your sock." Once again, she did as commanded.

"Clara!" He called. Lea noticed that the doctor called the women by their first names, rather than just calling out 'Nurse!'.

"Yes?" A woman walked by and answered. She was tall, with short hair and teal colored scrubs.

"Can you get me a pillow?" He asked kindly.

"Yes, I can."

"Thank you," he said as Clara began to walk away.

"Clara, one more thing?"

"Anything, doctor," she smiled, too happy to help.

"Would you fetch me her chart?"

"I was just about to. What's her name?"

"Lenore Fischer."

When they were alone, though not technically, as she was in the hospital's emergency ward, Lenore took a better look at this Carlisle Cullen. The first thing she decided was that his name was odd and tried it out in her head.

 _Carlisle Cullen...probably a family name._

She thought he was attractive, he could have been a model if he wanted. He had high cheekbones and a square jaw. His smirk was amusing and she noticed his muscles that were barely concealed by his button-up with the sleeves rolled up just shy of his elbows as his tie hung around his neck and his hospital badge swayed from his front breast pocket. His hair was plastered neatly atop his head with a few stay strands of hair bunched up curling inward toward his forehead. He wore a cologne she supposed she liked, though he didn't douse himself in it, it was more of a pleasant smell and she noticed the trace hint of antiseptic.

He washed his hands in a nearby sink and lifted her foot when the nurse returned with the pillow and a clipboard. Clara handed him the clipboard as he simply said, "Thank you," without bothering to look up from the page in front of him.

"Okay," he began, "what are you in for?" He joked. His humor was dry but Lea chuckled anyway as he wrote a few things down. After the nurse placed the pillow beneath her injured foot, he began his examination. He rolled her jeans up exposing her calf and brushed his fingers against the smooth skin sending a chill down his patient's spine.

He asked her to wiggle her toes and when she did, he asked if it hurt. When the answer was a negative, he asked her if she can point her toes toward him as he sat in a chair at the foot of the bed. She did with a slight wince. He asked her to do this once more and began pressing his thumb onto her tendons. He moved it along toward her ankle and felt for any fractions. When he found none, he asked her to point her foot in the direction of the other, that by far, hurt Lea the worst as she was only able to move a few inches.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure nothing was broken," he lifted her other foot onto the pillow and again rolled the pant leg up to check for swelling. He placed both of his hands on her feet and Lenore found his hands to be cold as ice, much like the rest of his body.

 _Christ, why is he so cold?_

"Sorry, cold hands…" he said when he noticed her reaction. "It's a doctor thing. Apparently, it's in the rulebook that we all have to have cold hands and stethoscopes," he joked as it was one of his main defense mechanisms. Carlisle gently squeezed both ankles and when he noticed one was fairly larger, he got up out of his chair and went to a nearby trolly and returned a few moments later with an ice-pack. He popped and shook it and placed it on the injured foot after wrapping it in a piece of cloth.

"Everything is fine, it's just going to be swollen for a few days, and you'll need this. If it starts giving you any trouble, don't hesitate to call me," after writing what he needed, he placed a note in her hands of a prescription of pain medication and a series of numbers.

"Thanks," Lea took the note, folded it, and placed it in the pocket of her sweater.

"Excuse me," Carlisle walked out of the cubicle and over to the nurse's station. Though his body did not require oxygen, he took a sigh of relief. With a few moments to himself, his body began to relax as all he thought about during his and Lea's encounter was walking up toward where she lay, leaning over her neck and biting like he'd not eaten since World War I.

All of his restraint and everything he'd worked so hard for was for nothing if all he wanted to do was turn or kill her. After Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, Carlisle promised never to turn another human unless it was absolutely necessary, which in those cases it was, and if the human knew full well what they were getting into. With his 'children', he had no choice. They were on the brink of death, Lenore Fischer was not.

 _Christ, it's just a sprain…_

Edward was dying of an outbreak of Spanish influenza and Carlisle turned him after the boy's mother demanded Carlisle do everything in his power to save her son but only turned him after Edward's parents had died. He told himself this as it was, in part, true but Carlisle had his own selfish reasons. The doctor had walked the Earth for just about two-hundred and fifty years and had no one to share in his experience. Carlisle was lonely and wanted a companion: a friend. Only, Edward grew to hate Carlisle, as he believed to two men were monsters, something Carlisle was familiar with. Edward left him, and for a while traveled and only killed humans who were terrible people: rapists and murderers, stalkers and thieves. When Edward came back to Carlisle, he found Bella. Carlisle was happy for his son and his newfound daughter-in-law. In time, they had a child, a little girl whom was named after Bella's own mother, Renee.

Rosalie was left for dead after her fiancé and his friends assaulted her. At first, Carlisle wanted to make her Edward's mate, though Carlisle had none himself. Instead, Rosalie thought of him as nothing more than a brother. She later went on a killing spree avenging her own death and torture and killing the man whom she once claimed to love. She was in love with the idea of love and living and children and grandchildren, but now, she could no longer have any of that and she grew to hate the vampire who had saved her. Slowly, she began to accept her fate, and thought that she would never be the woman she wished to be so long ago until Emmett changed her mind.

Rose was out on a hunt deep in the woods when she stumbled upon a man who looked to have been mauled by a bear. She took him and carried him just over a hundred miles back to where the family was 'living'. She knew that this man was her mate, she felt a pull in a chest, just as Edward did to Bella and just as Alice did to Jasper and vise-versa. Though he was covered in blood and it drove her instinct crazy, she ushered him though the door and begged Carlisle to save him. The doctor knew that there would be no way of saving the human's life, so he did the only thing he could: he turned the young man thus starting his coven of vampires.

Eventually, the Cullens were sought out by a couple, Alice and Jasper after the former had a vision. She, like so few other vampires, possessed a trait unique only to that individual. They came to live under the same roof and all of his 'children', though physically, he was just a few years their senior, lived happily and got on fairly well together.

It was only Lea, who lay just a few feet away, he had ever truly felt a protective need, a desire, a flame…a pull. Carlisle, over the few hundred years, had his fair share of run-ins with female vampires, a heated night of passion but nothing further. They knew that they were not to spent the rest of forever with each other. It was only with the human, Lea, did he feel a hint of anything.

After regaining his composure and doing a double-take in a mirror to make sure his eyes hadn't changed, Carlisle walked back over to the cubicle he knew Lenore was still in.

"Sorry about that," he told her as he made the excuse of needing to grab a bandage so she would be less likely to move her foot and to help with the swelling. He tightly and expertly wrapped it around her ankle.

"You can put your sock back on," as Lenore did, she noticed the doctor watched her with a keen interest.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, why were you coming into the hospital this evening?" he inquired, trying to sound nonchalant and tried to ignore the sound of her beating heart that sent blood throughout her body.

"I was going to visit my sister, she just had a baby," she answered excitedly but at the same time, there was a trace hint of terror in her voice.

"Really? Congratulations, what's the child's name?" Carlisle was genuinely happy for her.

"Her name is Wendy Dawn."

"Wow, okay. I don't want to keep them waiting," the doctor went back the the matter at hand, "well I think my work here is done."

Carlisle helped her back into the chair and though he did not need to, he took her to the maternity ward on the floor above.

"You really don't have to, Doctor…" Lenore began.

"I don't have to, but I want to. It would seem that you are now under my protection," he smiled as Lea looked over her shoulder at the man.

"I rather you not go on walking, thinking that you can do it and getting hurt so that I need to bandage the other foot."

Lea laughed, "Fine! If you must, continue on. Onward and forward!" She snarked.


	3. Newborn

"What the hell happened to you?" Lea's sister asked taking in the sight as she held her newborn child in her arms. Lea let out an unsteady laugh.

"I uh, I fell and Dr. Cullen helped me out," Lea answered as her face grew red with embarrassment.

"I should've known," she smiled a weak smile as she lay in the hospital bed, the affects of birth starting to catch up with the new-found mother.

"Dr. Cullen this is my sister, Anne," Lea told him over her shoulder.

"It's nice to meet you and the little one. Lenore tells me her name is Wendy," he stepped from behind the wheelchair and over toward the bed.

"Yeah, she's named after our mother," the woman answered as the child began to fuss. Anne started to rock her child in her arms as she ran her hand over the baby's head. When little Wendy began to calm, Anne looked up.

"Do you want to hold her?" The mother asked her sister.

"Are you sure? I…what if…" Lea stuttered, her palms became sweaty and the tips of her ears burned red.

"You'll be fine, just be gentle," her sister coaxed.

"Dr. Cullen would you?" Anne asked.

"Yes, of course," Carlisle walked all the way over toward the bed, snaked his hands underneath the child using one of them to support the head and the other for the rest of her body. He made sure that his grip was not too tight but that the babe was secure, he walked over to the new aunt. As he moved, he swayed his hips and rocked his arms. The vampire looked down at the tiny human. She was adorable. Her skin was pale with a few red splotches, no hair that was covered with a hat, her eyes were open and her arms wiggled about.

"Hello, pretty girl…" Carlisle spoke softly to the child and when he did, she looked into his eyes curiously. The doctor smiled back.

He missed the feeling of holding a newborn life in his hands. He had delivered babies before and held Edward's child numerous times before she grew, but he missed the warmth. He missed the smell of a child, not the blood, but the powder and baby wash, and though he hated old milk, that's what the child smelled of; Carlisle was perfectly fine with that.

He held her out to Lea who looked down in awe. The aunt looked again to the mother, who nodded with a weak smile. She rubbed her fingers together, took a sigh and held them out. Gently, Carlisle placed the newborn in her arms where she held the babe.

Lenore was never truly comfortable around children and the good doctor sensed this.

"It's alright, you've got her," he commended. For a millisecond, they both looked into each other's eyes and it felt right. It felt familiar but at the same time alien to both of them. They turned away in fear of the other and the two looked back to the mother who still smiled.

 _What a perfect family they'd make…_

Startling everyone in the room, a voice boomed over the intercom.

" _Visiting hours are now over, all visitors, please make your way to the exit."_

With one more look, Lea held the child out to Carlisle. He picked up little Wendy and walked her back over to her mother.

"She's beautiful."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Carlisle, please," he insisted.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Carlisle asked Lenore in his attempt to lighten the mood and wheeled her toward the elevator.

"Not as bad as I thought it might go," she tried. Her mind was still trying to get over the emotional stresses that were put upon her in just a little over an hour. He wheeled her out to the parking lot. With the doctor's help, Lea got up out of the chair and was handed a pair of crutches the doctor had retrieved when Lea was talking to her sister just before she and him took their leave.

"Thank you."

They both turned to go their separate ways. As he was walking and she hobbled away from each other he thought about this woman. He couldn't let her slip though the cracks of his fingers because he was too scared to do anything.

Before they went their separate ways and to their own cars, Carlisle spoke up, "Lenore?" she turned around rather quickly and did not go unnoticed by Carlisle.

"Yes?"

"I might sound crazy and you might think it's a cliche, but did you feel that thing that happened?" He knew how stupid it sounded and it might've made him come off like a douchebag. Normally, the doctor was so much better with words but there really was something there, something that happened. He couldn't explain it, but he knew what it meant.

He'd found her, more than a dozen lifetimes spent, and finally, he found her. He didn't scour the globe looking, and he never knew if he would find the person this monster was supposed to, in time, love, but alas, it happened. When it did, she was not exactly what he was expecting. Carlisle knew that Alice had her fair share of visions of this woman but he never wanted to know. He wanted it to be a surprise, instead, it hit him like a freight train.

Automatically, Lenore knew what he was talking about as Carlisle hoped.

"Yeah…" she said as she felt a twinge of the affect and the need to be closer.

"Then maybe I'm not going to sound so stupid, but would like to grab a drink sometime?" He asked, tilting his head to one side and shot her a smirk.

 _She could just be my drink…_ He joked in spite of himself. He never ate human food nor drank what they had to offer but the thought of getting to see her again made him giddy.

 _A drink with this man?_ ' _How could I say 'No.'?_

"Of course. I have you're number, so I'll call in a few days when the ankle gets better?" Her face burned red hot and was glad the parking lot was somewhat dim. Lenore wasn't sure what was happening as it was all so sudden, but she was never one to miss out on things that might just change her life, sometimes for the bad, but more often than not, for the better. She didn't know what to think of this man. He was different, not just compared to other people she met that took an interest, but there was something about him that was vastly different from anyone. It was almost as if he wasn't human and she didn't know whether or not that would kill her.

She laid her cards out on the table and decided to chance it.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds great."

"Okay, see you then," she smiled back and crutched her way to her car.

* * *

He reached the driveway to his house. When Carlisle put his car in park, he took a few moments to himself to contemplate the day's events. He turned the key in the ignition toward the 'off' and looked inside the bay widow. The light was on and he heard Renee's laughter. He got out and closed the door behind him. Normally, after his shift, Carlisle would park his car in the garage, he didn't know why he hadn't this time. Taking the key, he locked it and walked toward the front door.

Just as his hand reached for the door's knob, Alice swung it open.

"Well, you've certainly had an interesting day, haven't you?" She asked her father as she stepped toward him and gave him her signature hug as she always had after he got home.

"I take it I don't need to tell anyone then?" He smiled as he returned the fatherly affection.

"If you like, but I already have, we just need details!" She singsonged with a huge smile on her face. Just as quickly as she ran down the stairs, she was back at the top of the landing announcing Carlisle's arrival.

He followed suit, before he had even a chance to take off his coat and set his briefcase down, he was bombarded with questions.

"What's her name?"

"Is she nice?"

"Alice said she was pretty…"

"Edward said that you can't get your mind off…"

"Everyone! Calm down!" Carlisle raised his voice to be heard. Just as the words left his lips, the house settled.

"Her name is Lenore, though most call her Lea," he answered the first question.

"She is really nice, if a bit clumsy," he turned to Bella, answering her question.

"Yes, I'd like to think she is very pretty," he said as he directed his answer to the youngest of the family, his granddaughter.

"As for what Edward said," he turned to his son who sat at the piano, "get out of my head," he sighed furrowing his brows and sounding exasperated. Edward just sat there quietly and smiled, knowing what Carlisle thought of the woman and continued to play the little ditty he'd written that morning.

"Now," he turned his attention back to the riot, "anything else?" He asked as a new wave of questions hit. He closed his eyes irritated. Carlisle was not a violent, malevolent man. He cared deeply for his family and would prefer if a fight would not break out, however, if it did, he was the one to settle it. He was not cruel and was also not cowardly. His love and compassion ran deeply, even more so than Edward, who could read minds and Jasper, who could feel and influence others' emotions, understood.

They both tried to wrap their heads around Carlisle's feelings for his family but found that is was very complicating which made it all the more intriguing.

"Can I put my things away first?" He raised his voice once again.

"Fine…" he heard from Rosalie.

"Hurry up!" Emmett urged.

"Get on with it," Alice said.

They let him though and he stripped himself of his outermost layer of clothing and hung it in the coatrack along with his scarf. He didn't actually need a coat as the cold never bothered him or any vampire for that matter, they only used them to keep up with their facade. Carlisle only used the scarf as sort of a perpetual barrier to protect himself as it offered comfort. He walked over to his study that he kept closed and when he opened it, Carlisle set his briefcase down on the desk in the middle of the room.

He took another moment to gather his thoughts but everything just drifted back to the woman he met earlier: the way she spoke, her snark, her scent, the way her hair naturally fell and most of all: the pull.

He walked back out to the living room and found almost everyone patiently waiting. When everyone was settled, he began his tale of Lenore…

* * *

After all was said, every one was doing their own thing: Edward was still at the piano but was now joined by his wife and whispered what he knew about the woman, Alice and Jasper had gone out on a hunt, Rosalie and Emmett were in their suite doing whatever they were and Renee was reading waiting for Jacob.

Carlisle sat in his study alone.

He did nothing but think. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. A way to keep his privacy from the mind-reader of the house. He knew Edward would never try overstep the boundaries of reading the doctor's mind but sometimes he didn't know about that boy. Yes, he was a father finally making Carlisle a grandfather after a few decades but that didn't mean anything. Edward was always curious.

"I'm going out for a bit!" He called to no one in particular. He grabbed his keys out of the bowl where everyone put their keys to their cars and to the house and snagged his coat off of the rack. As he walked down the stairs, he divided his scarf in two by folding it down the middle, wrapped it around his neck and threaded the double ends into the loop.

He never needed sleep and was never tired, he never felt the affects of his twelve-hour shifts at the hospital so he walked out the door with a skip in his step and closed it behind him with a subtle slam. He went over to the edge of the woods and did nothing but think with every step he took.

He thought about the woman that he met only a few hours before…

"Dr. Cullen," he was stopped in his tracks. Carlisle knew exactly who it was simply from the doglike smell.

"Jacob, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Carlisle."

"Nah, I don't think I ever could. Is Renee inside?" He asked. The thought of calling Dr. Cullen 'Carlisle' made Jacob feel slightly awkward though the two men knew each other for almost ten years.

"Yes, just go right in," he said as he took a few more steps, "and Jake?"

"Yeah?" The shapeshifter turned back.

"Don't keep her out too late."

"Yes, sir," Jake said turning back toward the house.

"And don't call me sir, I'm your…" Carlisle tried to find a word that described the relationship the two shared.

"What are we, Jake?"

Jacob took a few moments to think, "I don't know…" he said rattling his brain to find a word. "Um, the vampire grandfather to my…imprint?" he said trying out the sound of the words.

"I don't know, let me get back to you," Jake said.

Carlisle simply nodded and was off. The werewolf stayed a few seconds to watch as the doctor's form distorted and disappeared into the woods.


	4. Un-beating Heart

"I'm home!" Lenore called to no one. She closed the door behind her to her apartment and flicked on the light of the hall. She hung her key on a hook right next to the door and crutched her way to the kitchen no wider than the hall.

She opened the refrigerator in hopes of finding something to eat. She grabbed the last of the takeout she ordered yesterday. She grabbed a plate from one of the cupboards and after spilling the fried rice into it, she popped it into the microwave. She leaned her weight on the crutch and watched as the plate spun around and 'round. When it beeped, it startled her out of her daydreaming of a certain doctor…she realized how much she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush on the teacher.

 _Knock it off..._

She popped the microwave back open and grabbed the plate. It was hot, so she avoided touching the bottom. Plate in hand and a pill from the medicine bottle Carlisle had prescribed, she crutched her way over to the living area and after taking a seat and pulling the coffee table toward the couch, she lifted her injured foot. She flicked on the t.v. and turned it to a news channel.

 _"_ _Several bodies were found drained of blood…"_ Lea heard the news reporter say. She shoveled the food onto the fork and shoved it into her mouth hungrily.

 _"_ _It was more that likely another bear attack…"_ she heard the Chief of Police, Charlie Swan, announce on the television.

Lea continued eating for the better half of an hour and when she was finished, she got ready for bed. She proceeded in her nightly ritual of a glass of wine with a book, brushing her teeth, washing that day's make-up off, brushing her hair before putting it into a bun, rubbing lotion on her palms and fingers and crawling into her bed after grabbing a glass of water to place on her nightstand. She set her alarm to wake up tomorrow and get ready for her job, though she was clumsy and not the most eloquent person, she was a professional stage actress.

Her newest gig was to play 'The Courtesan' in a musical comedy/drama, _"Moulin Rouge"_. When she preformed and sang, she took on another part of herself: an alias. She was far more confident than in her day to day life, she spoke loud and sang even louder. She held herself to a high standard and placed a trust in herself that she would remember what she was to say, that she knew the notes and octaves of singing…

She stuck the retainers she received after paying her dues with braces in her mouth to keep her teeth from shifting, when she noticed something was amiss.

 _Several bodies were found drained of blood…_ she thought.

 _What kind of bear does that?_

She furrowed her brows and thought a few moments longer but every time she thought too long and too hard about that day, her thoughts kept drifting to Carlisle Cullen. The way he carried himself with a cool, quiet confidence. How he spoke and poked fun at her expense, but she didn't mind, she liked his dry sense of humor. She thought of his hands and how cold and almost marble-like they were but the thing she thought of the most was the feeling she got every time she looked at him: a tingling sensation, the feeling of needing to be closer, but at the same time how her instinct went into overdrive that she needed to be as far away from him as possible.

She felt that he was a potential threat to her very being, but his personality and looks made her almost not care.

She racked at her brain as she thought about who he was and, with that drink they were to get in the future, what they might become.

She laid in bed feeling more lonely then ever. When she finally did reach it, she fell asleep with a fearful smile in her face.

* * *

He slowed his pace when he got to the edge of the clearing. Carlisle knew that a few more minutes of running would get him where he wanted but he decided against it and begun on a leisurely walk. The grass reached his calf and some that went to his kneecaps were wet with dew making his khakis soaked but he didn't mind.

He looked around at the trees that were easily over fifty feet. If he wanted, he could have climbed them like an insect, reaching the top with ease. He didn't feel the need. He heard distant birds, their chirping songs reaching his highly sensitive ears. This far out into the woods, he could not hear the sounds of the cars that drove on by in town. He could not hear the inhabitants of such the town as their voices were nothing but mere whispers in the wind that faded in the distance.

The trees blew along with the grass. He was nearing the place that he fell in love with so long ago and the thought of it made him smile. This was were he went when he decided that a few hours out of the house was possibly the best thing for him, away from work and 'the kids'. A place he went when he needed time to think. It was unreachable to anyone else other than him, at least he thought. It was a place where he could easily hunt if need be and was quite a ways away from his home.

He found the edge of a cliff that overlooked the ocean near La Push but far enough away that he was not in volition of the treaty he and the inhabiting shapeshifters had made so long ago. He watched as the landscape revealed before him. He wondered if he were somehow dreaming, that he'd wake up back in the seventeenth century. That his father, the town's reverend, would have him out hunting for the very thing he found himself to be. He was both the hunter and the hunted.

He pushed those thoughts aside.

If he decided, he could build a small cottage in the place he found himself and stay for the rest of his existence. Though he was deeply caring and compassionate, he liked the solitude of a single lifestyle.

But that all changed. It changed when he met Lenore. His world was forever changed due to a chance encounter with that woman.

The trees looked taller and fuller. The grass greeted him as an old friend. He could make out the silhouettes of the clouds that blew away revealing the stars beyond. Sometimes, he wondered if there were others out there, other beings. Perhaps they were like him or they were like an animal or they were like the humans or the shape-shifters. Out there in that vast expanse of almighty glory, it was possible.

The full moon was brighter to him, he could make out the maria and name most of them accordingly: the Sea of Showers, the Copernicus Crater, the Ocean of Storms, the Sea of Crises, the Sea of Tranquility, the Sea of Fertility…

He turned his attention from the moon and back to the unending dots that lighted the night sky. He figured within a few hundred years, man would eventually travel to those stars that had their own solar systems and perhaps study what types of life they held. He knew that eventually, he too would join mankind in their travels of traversing though the vast unknown. But the mere idea of Lea not able to see it, not paying witness, made him downturn his head and look back to the ground. He wanted her to see what he saw.

His un-beating heart tightened at the thought.

Suddenly, he heard something emerge into the clearing. He turned his head to inspect the intruder: an animal. An animal that he could hunt. He quietly but quickly ran and hid behind the trunk of a tree. Carlisle could see the stag; he could see the beating of it's heart as it pumped out if it's chest muffled by bone and fur. He could see it's blinking eyes as it traversed though the blackness, the only source of light from the moon Carlisle studied a few moments before. He could see it's lungs inhale and deflate, lungs that protected organs that only worked with blood…

It moved with a grace he could never and made a noise, the cracking and breaking of twigs beneath it's hooves.

He heard it's breathing, he felt's warmth in the wind, he listened to it's heart beating.

 _Thump, tump…thump, tump…thump, tump…_

Carlisle felt his teeth grow a significant amount, he felt them with his tongue in anticipation, and though it hurt, he never took his eyes of the animal. The predator's eyes went black and he realized then that he neglected his eating and snuck upon the stag. The mere spectacle of it sent his hunger into overdrive.

He leapt from his hiding spot and soon found himself sprawling over the animal. His mouth on the artery that provided for his own life but took that of the beast. Carlisle's muscles tensed and his eyes faded in and out. He drank until it's veins shriveled and still, he continued to drink. He found himself in a frenzy and though the animal had nothing else to offer, still he continued to bite and take what it had.

When he finished, he sighed in a blissful euphoria. He brought his hand to his mouth and wiped the remaining blood. He stood and looked down at what he had done. He took the dead creature, walked over to 'his spot' and threw it over the edge of the cliff he laid upon a few minutes before. It fell into the abyss never to be found again.

 _Thank you for providing your life to keep mine sustained. You will not be missed and there will be many more after you…_ he prayed as he watched the ocean swallow the dead beast. He laid back down and tapped his foot to imaginative music. He folded his hands beneath his head and continued to stare at the stars above as if nothing happened...

* * *

Lenore woke to the sound of her alarm clock going off. After a few more minutes of sleeping and pressing the 'snooze' button a few times, she found herself sitting in bed wiping the sleep from her eyes. She groggily pulled herself up from the bed and limped over to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She answered nature's call and ran the water in the sink to wash her hands and her face.

She stripped out of her pajamas and ran the water in the tub to take a shower. She let the heat and steam take over her senses as she tried not to mind the pain in her foot. When she finished, she toweled herself off and wiped the steam on the mirror. She took in her soaking wet reflection. She looked into her own eyes, she followed the natural curve of her lips, the freckles that were spotted here and there…

She nodded her head.

 _Okay, today is going to be a great day. Just t_ _ry not to get too hurt?_

She grabbed the brush of the vanity and ran it though her hair a few times. She limped back into her bedroom with the towel still wrapped around her frame. She opened the door to her closet and picked out that day's outfit: a pair of black skinny jeans, a black and white plaid shirt, and a white tank-top as she suspected that she was more than likely going to leave the shirt unbuttoned. She grabbed a brown belt to go along with it and brown flats.

Lea rewrapped her foot with another bandage. Though it hurt like hell to get dressed, she somehow managed and soon she was in the kitchen making herself some breakfast. She took a pain killer and continued to eat, every spoonful of food made her somehow think of the doctor she met yesterday and whether or not she would see him again.

Every time her thoughts drifted to that man, she felt that she was more lonely and in want of a companion.

Her phone chimed, knocking her out of her stupor.

 _"_ _Lea get over to the theater. Director's got some important news," s_ he read the text from one of her co-stars.

 _"_ _I'll be over in a few,"_ she typed back and tapped the send button.


	5. Flatlined

She finished her makeup as fast as her expertly moving hands would allow and what she didn't put in a makeup bag, Lenore pushed into the drawer of the vanity. She was in a rush and would deal with the repercussions later of whether or not some of the makeup spilled.

"Okay…okay…okay…" she whispered, trying to be as fast as possible. Lenore knew that if there was important news regarding the play: the cast, crew and director would wait as long as possible as she was the lead actress. The only other people that measured up to her ranks in the play was the actor to play 'The Writer' and another male who was to play, 'The Duke'.

The director, Johann, suspected that Lenore and the actor who played her muse, 'The Writer', might have had something more than mere chemistry, that they knew each other a long time ago and that they might have had a relationship, or that they simply might have just slept together. The rest of the ensemble and crew suspected as much as well.

If asked, Lenore and Peter Darling would deny it, but sometimes, he would shoot her a look: just a look. Peter didn't look at anyone else in the production like that. The professionals would claim it was just set gossip, after all the two were to play characters who were madly in love.

Lenore grabbed the keys off the hook and turned around to make sure the lights were off. Being an actress, she was never ensured of a job and tried not to spend more than she made and an electric bill that shot through the roof would be no help whatsoever. She rushed out the door without her crutches, down the stairs using the handrail to assist her injury and out the front door. She walked out to her car and had a sudden feeling of anxiety.

She felt as though someone were watching her, she didn't know who it was as she looked around and found no one. She stepped into her car and remembered the tea she made and put inside of a thermos.

 _Damnit…_

She rolled her eyes and stepped back out of the car. Just as quickly as she was down the stairs, it took her a few more seconds to climb back up, open her door and step into the kitchen. She grabbed the beverage and was again off, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything else, she mentally made a checklist and checked off what she was to bring.

 _Script…check._

 _Phone…check._

 _Keys…obviously…_

 _Tea…no I forgot it again…_ even in her own mind, Lenore was sarcastic.

She pulled out of the parking lot and looked both ways before driving out onto the main road.

* * *

Carlisle laid in the grass, unmoving since he'd eaten. During the night, he watched the stars as they twinkled above the Earth. His eyes needed no time to adjust to the lights as they hung overhead and he saw stars that were more dim than the brighter ones and stars so small that no mortal could ever dare to see without a telescope. He now held himself to his best though he dod so before he even met Lea. He made a promise to himself up on that ledge as the wind blew out of the night and owls hooted their presence that he would defend Lenore Fischer until the day either of them were gone and even after. He told himself that he would do better, not for his own sake, not for his family's but for her's.

But now, it was morning, and the sun was now rising. He wondered what time it was. Regrettably, the vampire picked himself up from the ground and without a word or noise, he began to run back to his humble abode and start his day.

When he reached his home, he found that most of his children were getting ready to go to their college classes and that Renee was sleeping in her room curled up next to Jake. He peeked into her room and left them with the door once again closed. He didn't mind, Renee was now old enough to make her own decisions and was nearing full maturity, though for Edward, the thought of Jake and his daughter together made his skin crawl though there was nothing he could do lest he wanted his daughter to drift away.

Carlisle walked over to his bedroom, stripped himself of his clothing and stepped into his ensuite bathroom. He ran the water not caring what temperature the it sprayed and rinsed himself off. He figured that if he went to work that morning with dirt and twigs in his hair it might raise a few eyebrows.

When he finished, he stepped out of the shower, dressed himself and went to wake Renee and Jacob. He made them both some scrambled eggs with a side of toast and sausages. A long time ago, before Carlisle's children graduated from high school, that kitchen would have been empty save for utensils and silverware, but those were just for show. However, now that the house was supporting a woman with both vampirism and prolonged mortality, and more often than not in the company of a few werewolves who could easily eat their bodily weight just about every day, the kitchen was filled with food. After wishing and being wished a great day, he went back out, this time, to his car.

When the doctor drove to work that morning, like most of the days in Forks, it was raining and dreary as the clouds had set in while he showered. But all he could think about was her: _Lenore Fischer._ The entire time he spent in the solitude he found in the cliff was how it seemed that he'd never seen the sky before yesterday. The way Lea's blonde strands fell, curling inward. Her eyes and how dark they were even in the brightness that the lights of the hospital he drove to, provided. How her snark and sarcasm made him smile. How her clothes hugged her natural curves…

 _Knock it off you!_ Carlisle scolded himself.

The roads were fairly slippery and as he walked into the hospital, he was greeted by one of the doctors.

"Good morning, Dr. Cullen," she said as he walked over to the break room to punch in his I.D. badge, the woman following suit.

"Good morning, Susan. So, how'd the date go?" He asked with a hopeful smile.

"It was great. Yeah," she agreed with herself, "Ricky took me to that little place, you know 'Blakeselees'?"

"No, don't think I've heard of it," he said as he put his coat in his locker.

"You have to try their margaritas, they're to die for," Susan had a dreamy look on her face. "Then he took me to La Push and we walked along the beach."

"And?" Carlisle asked coaxing her to continue on.

"We saw a dead freaking deer!" She exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" He asked, trying to sound surprised.

"Yeah! It was just lying there!"

"That's got to ruin a date," he said, knowing full well what happened before it was found and what took the poor animal's life.

"Yeah, it did…" she continued. "but after that, he took me home…"

They heard a commotion outside as they both worked in the emergency ward, they were out the door running toward the spectacle.

"Coming though! Code Blue Pediatric, Code Blue Pediatric coming though!" The on-duty E.M.T. yelled for the doctors and nurses to hear.

"What happened?" Carlisle asked taking in the sight before him. It was a little girl, with a woman who looked to be her mother. She held her hand but was ushered out into the hall by security. Upon the child's face was an oxygen mask as the nurse gave the child a chance to breath though to almost no avail. Another stood by monitoring her pulse and blood pressure, while another placed E.K.G. stickers around her body.

"Anaphylaxis," a nurse said before the child flatlined. "Massive vasodilation and fluid extravasation!"

"I.V. infusion?" Carlisle asked, knowing the other nurses and doctors knew what he meant as he began to perform C.P.R..

"I.V. infusion was ineffective."

"How old is she?"

"Ten!"

"Weight?" Carlisle asked urgently.

"Eighty!"

"Nurse!" Carlisle called as he continued to preform C.P.R., "One milligram of Adrenaline!"

When he was handed the needle he stabbed it into the chest plate near where the patient's heart should be. The monitor for her heart started beeping again and still Carlisle and the surrounding nurses began to hustle and bustle about making sure that the little girl would not flatline again. When she was fairly stable, the surrounding participants took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief.

Carlisle stepped out of the room to talk with the woman the child came with. He new that if he was needed, he could easily just pop right back into the room.

"Doctor, is she going to be alright?" the mother asked. He stepped toward the woman, a small smile on his face knowing the child was in no longer in any immediate danger.

"Yes, we're just going have to keep her monitored for at least four hours, though I'd recommend overnight to assure she does not relapse," he said as the woman sat down in the hallway breathing a sigh of relief, he joined her on the chair next to her's.

"Okay. Are you sure she'll be okay?" She asked.

"Yes, I am. She's in good hands, the nurses here know what they're doing and I'll monitor her myself," he assured.

"What is she allergic to?"

"Peanuts…her teacher didn't know…I thought I told her…" the mother began to break down as a new wave of panic hit.

"Miss?" Carlisle asked, "What's your daughter's name?" he tried to soothe her as well as getting as much information as he could.

"Alex…" she answered between cries.

"I can assure you, Alex is in the best medical care possible."

"I know, I just got so scared."

"I know, I know what you're going though. I have children of my own and if one of them got hurt then I'd be out of my head. You're right to feel this way," he told her truthfully.

"We'll take good care of her," he said as he placed an affirming hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Doctor," the mother smiled, "thank you for saving my little girl."

"I'm just doing my job."

* * *

When Lenore stepped though the doors to the concert hall, Johann stood on the stage as the rest of the show's participants sat in the audience.

"So you're saying we can't do the musical?" Lenore heard, clearly, the troupe had begun without her.

"Correct," the director answered.

"I thought we had this figured out months ago!" Sandra, an ensemble cast member exclaimed, clearly annoyed.

"So did I, but as it turns out, one of the interns got nervous…"

"What do you mean?" Another member asked.

When the Johann took notice of Lea, his face brightened happy to have even a tiny distraction.

"What's going on?" She asked, somewhat obvious to the information.

"We don't own the rights to ' _Moulin Rouge'_ …"

"What? What do you mean?" She asked, trying to clarify what she heard.

"Listen, all I know is that one of my interns thought we acquired the rights, but apparently not," Johan tried to explain.

"So we're out of the job?" Peter, one of the three main actors, asked.

"It would seem as such, yes…" the director began when there came a full uproar from all corners of the theater…


	6. Something to Fear

"So, there's no play?" Carlisle asked as Lenore retook the seat across from him in the booth they were now sharing. She'd just come back from the restroom.

"No, there isn't," she told him as she took a sip of the fruity cocktail in front of her.

"By the way, it's a musical, not a play. A play, in the general sense, sticks with the idea of the spoken word but can incorporate some music, whereas a musical sets those words in the rhythm of song lyrics and more often than not, incorporate dancing."

"Ah…" was all the response Lea had received.

"There is a difference," she said as she eyed him with a smirk, knowing she'd won the battle of babbling. It had become a sort of thing they both did as they realized, on their first date, that they were good at it and found that it was fun. It kept the mood bright and the tone soft.

It might have been their third date, but Carlisle needed to take things slowly. He didn't have a choice on that front, though he knew that Lenore was more than eager to take things faster. He found that she was one to over look the simplest of matters but when it came to something she loved and was passionate about, she, in the metaphorical terms, went scuba-diving. She plummeted into things she knew and dove deeper than was actually necessary, just in the same way the doctor studied medicine.

They both had their passions and spoke freely about them: Lenore, when she was younger, fell behind in her classes as she was always reading scripts from plays her school was showing; she loved painting and sculpture and was something of a Van Gogh impressionist. She enjoyed music, opera and the written word, if she was not going over the words of a script, she was lost in other artistic ventures that caught her imagination and attention.

Carlisle, on the other hand, was vastly different from her: his mind worked around logic and reasoning, though he cared deeply for what he believed. He reread medical journals to the point the spines of such books became cracked and withered, though there was no need as his memory was photographic. He liked to think about what else could be done, what was wrong in the world around him and what he could do to help fix it. He volunteered his time at shelters and often bought clothing to give to the homeless as the winter season was soon to come, with that, he knew it brought the long, cold nights.

They talked about what they did for a living, Lenore was traveling with a troupe of actors and dancers, though she was based out of Seattle and lived in Forks.

Carlisle was a doctor and explained that he felt the need to help people but did not elaborate further on the subject.

They talked about what they didn't like and why: Lenore had tons to say but Carlisle offered nothing in return, for he did not want to tell her what the one thing he absolutely hated was: living a life that was supposed to die more than three-hundred years ago and never having a partner, an intimate partner, not only in the physical sense but someone to share every experience with. Never having an anchor, someone to ground him, someone who told him that enough was enough, someone to love him just as he was. Yes, he had his children and his granddaughter, the mutual love and respect he had for them was unconditional and could never be doubted as it shone though everything he had done. But sometimes, when he sat in a place for too long, when he thought about something too hard, when he needed someone to tell him that everything was fine: there was no one.

Some part of his mind made him doubt that his children truly loved him, and that his family would actually stay forever, they had their own lives amongst themselves. That was the one fear he felt, the only thing he was scared of would dawn upon him, the one thing that might have kept him up at night if he slept, was that if not one, than all of the members of his family might one day be gone and he would be left alone. He'd gone through that before and never wanted to again, he knew what it was like to watch everyone he'd ever known or cared about die.

He'd taken it upon himself to change someone, Edward, but the mere idea of him or Alice or Rosalie, Jasper, Bella, Emmett, even Renee, that they might one day leave, sent a shiver down his spine, set his teeth on edge and that by far was the one thing that motivated him to do anything. They were the reason he'd domesticated himself and them so they might have something similar to a normal life, so they might have the father they always wanted and needed.

But the one thing a father needs, he might have his children, but the one thing that sat at the top of the list was a partner, someone to share in the experience of the thing the vampire called 'Living'.

"I can see that. You know that I was in a few musicals once," he told her as he watched her take another sip of the cocktail.

"Really? Which one?" She asked, her interest obviously piqued.

"Yeah, it was a while back, but I was in _Les Miserables_."

Lenore's eyes went wider than the doctor had ever seen.

"As who?"

A smile was brought to Carlisle's face, "I was Javert."

"Really? But I can't see you committing suicide, or even singing opera."

"Well, I was and I do…did," he stammered trying corrected himself.

"When I was younger, I was never allowed to visit the opera, my father was an Anglican pastor and he thought that was against God's way but when he died, I was free to do as I wished and the first stage performance I'd ever seen was 'The Tragedy of Othello, The More of Venice'," the words rolled off his tongue in a slightly seductive manner.

* * *

They walked in the darkness of the night, the weather was mute and no clouds were accompanied by the moon that ran way behind Earth's shadow making the satellite red as blood in the velvety sky. They both wore a few outer layers as the nights were getting colder and their breath crystallized before them served as a sign that winter was coming. They held each other's hand and Carlisle was thankful that they both decided to wear gloves. When they reached Lenore's apartment building door, she turned and invited him inside to warm up a bit before treading back to his home. Carlisle lived quite a ways away but it could quickly be reached only if he ran.

When they reached her actual apartment, she closed the door behind him and crashed her lips into his. Carlisle was taken aback. He wanted to indulge himself and her, but knew that if he did, the possible ramifications could be dire.

He knitted his brows together tasting the trace hint of alcohol, as he tried to keep his instinct in check. He took her by her shoulders and gently pushed her away, turning around as he knew his eyes had changed due to his bloodlust and want of her.

He heard her heart beat faster and her breathing hitch then quicken. He still felt the heat on his lips from her kiss. He smelled her scent, like the pollen of a freshly picked flower and the smell of damp earth after raining, the perfume making him dizzy. From where he stood, he could feel her natural body heat on his ice cold skin, almost like it was burning and taunting in unison.

"Lenore…" he began, "I can't…" he whispered.

"Listen, I get that this would be a great life…but this is something I can never have."

She turned his body, trying to meet his gaze but he kept his face turned from her and kept his eyes averted toward the floor. She ducked trying to find him, trying to find his line of sight.

"Please…" he begged as he put his hand to his mouth, he felt his teeth beginning to grow…

When she found his eyes, they startled her. They were no longer the enigmatic amber that she'd grown so fond of, they were black.

He blinked a few times, taking notice that she saw what he never wanted her to. He sighed, trying to calm his hunger but to no avail as all it had done was heighten it tenfold. He wanted as much space between them that the apartment was able to offer so he pushed past her and into the unfamiliar space. This place was not his so after he invited himself in, he had nowhere else to turn, so he looked back to Lenore.

Another terrible mistake on his part as the distance somewhat subdued his hunger and his eyes faded from black into the honey that Lenore found so inviting.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked as her brow furrowed.

"I can explain…"

"You damn well better!" She told him, putting him in check.

"There's a reason you don't see me eat, why no one ever has seen me eat. It's the same reason why I'm always cold, why my skin is so pale and why my eyes are the color they are…"

"But…your eyes…they changed…" she asked more than told.

"I know, I can't help it…and I can't help who I am…" he turned away from her again, unable to meet her gaze.

"What is it?" She asked stepping closer.

"Don't!" He snapped.

"I don't want to hurt you!" He stepped further away.

"You won't. Whatever this is, whatever's going on. Tell me?" She offered.

"You won't hurt me…" she added after a few beats.

"How do you know?"

"I know because you had more than enough opportunities to," she told him, inching the distance closer.

"Would you tell?"

"No. Never."

"Promise me you won't think I'm a monster? That I'm something to fear?"

"Promise."

"Come with me," he told her as he offered her his hand.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Somewhere no one will hear you scream."

* * *

Yes, I know I've been gone for a really long time, but my only excuse is that I got a new job and I work from six-thirty in the morning to six-thirty at night so one can imagine how taxing it is on a person. Also I wanted to reread the Twilight series just to make sure that Carlisle and the Cullens are as close as I can get to the ideal character though they might be a bit quirky but that's just me having a bit of fun with it.

I hope that you like the story so far and thank you for reading it!

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	7. Go Away

Lea took Carlisle's stone cold hand. She shuttered, not at the temperature of his body but rather of the feeling of being shocked and she loved it. Carlisle slung her onto his back and walked over to the window as if a hundred-thirty pound person hanging onto his neck didn't register.

"Do you trust me?" He knew that she hadn't known him long but he needed to know that she did trust him despite the fact that he was a monster.

"With every fiber of me being," she told him truthfully, Carlisle didn't hear anything to hint at a lie and smiled to himself.

"Then you, my dear, are the most reckless human I have ever known."

Lenore didn't miss the fact that Carlisle had called her 'human'.

 _Was he not?_

There was no way she could know, he looked human but at the same time didn't: he was too cold, too pale, too perfect to be what she was. They way he moved and his mannerisms made him seem like he'd come from a different century entirely. Sometimes even the way he spoke, she caught that on a few occasions, he used words that came from somewhere in the past as if the thought of speaking like someone who'd grown in the nineties didn't fit. Even the name 'Carlisle Cullen' seemed like a character that popped out from the pages of a book.

She clung tighter, her grip like a vise. Carlisle noticed this and looked over his shoulder, when he turned back, he opened the window to reveal a slippery looking landing with stairs that led to the concrete sidewalk slicked with a mixture of rain and snow hiding a thin layer of ice beneath.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he begun to step out onto the fire-escape.

"I'm showing you…"

Before Lea had a chance to scream, he jumped from the third story and landed on his feet with a spring in his step, neither the ice or the fact that he just jumped from a hight that would definitely injure most, made him bat an eyelash. Lenore didn't have a chance to react to his first action before she found herself in a blur of buildings, the light streaming from the windows, a ghost, there and gone. Within a few seconds, they were amongst the trees. The air felt damp like it always was, it was colder but even that felt warmer than the man Lea clung to.

The trees' shapes were muddled at how fast the man was running. Could it even be called running? It felt more like flying over the ground, his steps were not misplaced and he glided. The cold rustled the trees and stirred up a slight breeze at how fast what ever this 'person' Lea could only call him, was moving. She barely had time to take in her surroundings when they stopped.

Lea jumped off, she would have done so earlier if not for the fact that she knew she would get hurt and likely crash into a tree so much so even the doctor wouldn't be able to mend her mangled body.

Carlisle had taken her to the one spot he felt he was most human, the spot he wanted to build a cottage, the spot that offered him solace.

"What the hell was that?" She yelled. She knew they were far enough no one other then the being in front of her would be able to hear.

"What I wanted to show you…"

"I think I've seen quite enough thank you very much," Lenore said as she turned and begun to walk away toward were she assumed town might be. She figured she'd eventually find a road and just walk to wherever it lead, either that or be eaten by an animal.

"Please, don't go. I want you to stay. I need to tell you this. I'm begging you, please; don't leave me here. All the hurt and hatred I feel for what I am, you are my illusion. Being like you are, human I mean, I'm something else," Carlisle looked out defeated toward the misty figure of the woman. She looked like a ghost, albeit a clumsy one as she stumbled over the tree trunks that stuck out of the ground. She stopped in her tracks and turned back.

She was an illusion. Even to this man, she seemed unreal, she made it seem like he was dreaming. To her, everything she'd ever learned was a lie. There were creatures that walked among humans, concealing themselves and hid right under everyone's nose, it was perfect hiding. Even still, she knew not what he was and knew even littler as to who he was, she wanted to know, she felt like she had to.

"I know it's hard for you to tell me how confused you are, Lea. I would be too. How mixed up you feel, not quite sure that I'm not a dream, you're just a human after all. It's difficult for me to explain…I just hope that you can keep an open mind and trust what I'm saying is the truth. You and I, when we were younger we used our imagination and were told stories of monsters that hid themselves in the shadows, under beds and in the basement, it's just a fact to be scared of the unknown, but I…I hope you won't be scared of me.

"For the entirety of my life, I felt as though I never belonged anywhere, sometimes, I still do. It's not sadness and it's not joy, it's mundane. After my father died, though he was somewhat overbearing, I died with him. So I traveled and never stayed in one place for longer than a few years until I took Edward as my own son and not long after that: Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, Alice… they lived with me as well. I decided that the best thing for them was to settle down so we moved here."

Lenore listened intently.

"Can you comprehend?"

The figure in the mist took a moment to herself, shifted her feet, and nodded her head.

"I used to claim it was divine purpose, because my father was a pastor. Now I can see that it isn't so. I'd like to think I have a soul, but I've only given as many lives as others of my kind have taken. It's at least, what I'd like to believe and it doesn't matter. I used to think that somehow, I'd been sent to this Earth to do something more than I, myself can comprehend. All my life, I'd been waiting for something I know not what. But now, I can see that the thing I'd been waiting for is standing before me, scared out of her wits at the man she listens to.

"It's like a part of my soul tied me to this other world, what I had been, I'd taken bits and pieces, because the less is than…" he trailed off, "but it's just what I believe. I'm still not sure. What I do know, is since I met you, to me the world is different, as I am to the world. It's like I'd never seen the sky before. I never knew I could feel like this, but I am a creature of the underworld, I can't afford to love someone who isn't like me. I hope you know that. The fact of the matter is, I think I do and if you were smart you'd stay away."

"But what are you?" The shrouded figure asked, the only reason Carlisle knew she was alive was the fact that the cold caught her breath and clouded around her face.

"I'm something from out of the pages of a storybook, the hunter and the hunted…"

"Enough with the riddles," Lea interrupted, "just tell me? You brought me out here."

"I'm…I'm…not human."

"That's it, I'm leaving," she'd had enough. She turned back toward the way she was headed.

"It's true! You don't believe me?"

"N…" Lea paused a second, "no."

 _Who would?_

"Try to out run me!" Carlisle yelled in a ditch attempt to keep her. He ran in a wide circle that was more than a hundred meters in diameter and was back at his starting position within a few moments.

"Try and fight me off!" He grabbed a nearby boulder that reached up to his waist, the surface slippy with dew and moss. He threw it across his clearing and it smashed into a tree, slowly, the pair heard crackling like thunder and the ground beneath their feet quake in Carlisle's wrath. The tree fell over.

Lea looked on in astonishment. She didn't know what to think, every guess she tried, she came up blank. She tried to put things together in her mind but to no avail. She was awestruck.

"I'm designed to kill, but my family and I, we quench our thirst using other means," he told her, still trying to keep his distance as he was unsure as to how she reacted.

"What do you mean 'thirst'?" She asked as she took a step closer to the god before her though she was terrified as all hell.

"I've lived for over three-hundred and sixty years, surviving off of the blood of animals."

Lenore had heard the stories of the people who came to live where Forks now was. Her father, who was friends with the Chief of the Quileute tribe, told her that they were cold, pale, that their skin glistened in the sun like a million diamonds and that they strong and incredibly fast. That they could take down whole bears with just their hands and that they drank the blood from such animals to sustain themselves.

Finally, she put two and two together and it clicked in her head.

She knew Carlisle Cullen, Forks' best doctor, the adoptive father of excellent teenagers, all of which, including him were model citizens, she knew that he was a vampire.

She caught her breath in her throat and felt like she was going to go into hysterics. Lea felt as though she were crazy to even be thinking of such a thing. She took in the misty figure before her and she found herself backing away slowly. Her foot caught onto the trunk of a tree. Slowly, she begun to topple over. Carlisle was by her side before she could reach the ground.

She looked at him and he seemed different, worried. Carlisle always seemed so suave and generous, but this was something she'd never seen cross his face.

 _He_ was scared of _her._

"Lenore?" He asked.

"Yeah?" She breathed.

"Say something…"

"I don't know what to say…" not a single thought came to her mind.

"If you had any sense of self-preservation you'd stay away from me. Can't we just go back to the way things were before we met? Before you knew what I am?"

"You know we can't. Even if I wanted do, I don't think I ever could. I never would…" they continued to hold each other close as they rested on the trunk of the tree. Carlisle took her face into his hands and brushed his thumb on her cheeks. Lea leaned into them though it felt like putting her face to a frozen stone.

"I can't deny what I am even though I've lived my entire existence in such the manner. There is no changing the fact that I am a vampire. But I'd never feed off human blood if ever given the absolute opportunity. I have restraint that keeps anyone from knowing what I truly am, but with you…the way that your smell is a fragment of the real taste and how my mouth seems to dry and feels like I have not eaten since the time I was changed. Even now, I have to use everything I've taught myself, all of my willpower, not to taste even a drop…if I do, I know that I would kill you and the hatred for who and what I am would drive me mad. You are something that my people use to describe someone like you. Il mio cantante _…"_

"What does that mean?" She asked furrowing her brow. Lenore was not scared of the man that sat with her, she knew in her heart that if he wanted to hurt her then he would have done it by now. They were alone and by the time Lea screamed, she would be dead and he would have been long gone. He would leave no trace that he was ever here and he might have made up the story that they had gotten into a argument and that she had run off. No one would suspect him as he is Forks' best doctor with no record of criminal activity and his children, as well as everyone else in the town, would vouch for him.

She set that thought aside, the thought of him being alone after so close to having someone there, she couldn't bare it. What he had to live with, always in the back of his mind that he could never truly tell anyone in confidence. He never had anyone, he was alone and she felt for him. It was not pity as he didn't need such a thing, but it was the feeling of needing to be closer to him. This man had stumbled into her lap and now, she wanted nothing but to spend as long as they had together. She didn't care if she got older and would look like his mother and later his grandmother, she wasn't that vain. All she wanted was to love him, though she knew very little about him. She wanted to tell him that even though she died because she knew eventually she would as everyone did, well almost everyone, she would still be there, never far away.

She shifted closer and took his hands in her's.

"It's Italian," he broke her train of thought.

"It means, _my singer_. Your blood sings for me, begging me to take what you have to offer. It begs in a way I have not felt before," he told her ashamed of himself and what he is.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I want to ask you something but I'm afraid you'll hate me after. Carlisle, does it hurt?" She looked him in the eyes trying to gauge his reaction and they flickered with something.

"No. Not in the physical sense. But the few days I spent after being bitten, I…the pain, the feeling of the cells in your blood, everything being ripped apart and put back together, that's what hurt the most. But even still…"

"Who were you before you were changed?" She asked wanting to know everything that he could possibly tell.

"When a person is changed, the memories of their previous life are slowly forgotten. They forget when they were born and when they were changed. They forget who they used to be and what they did. Even slower still they forget about the people they loved: mothers and sisters, cousins and lovers…the few things I do remember was my father was a pastor, I was born sometime between the sixteen-twenties or thirties and my mother died after she gave birth to me."

"Carlisle, I'm so sorry," Lenore told him as she took him and held him against her chest, his ear was right were her heart was. The beat was accelerated slightly as Lenore ran her fingers though his hair.

"Lenore, I can hurt you…" he said as he tried to pull away from her embrace only to be held tighter.

"You won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because you would have already done it."

"What is it that you want from me, Lea?" He asked.

"I don't…I want us to be together for as long as we have," she answered truthfully.

"You know I can't change you…"

"I don't care about that! I want…I want…" she tried finding the right words.

"We, you and I, we're a team now. We're in this together. I don't care that I'm not like you and you're not like me…what matters is this; I will always be here for you and I will never go away."

"Promise?" Carlisle asked like a child.

"I promise."


	8. The Appointment in Samarra

_October 16, 2015_

 _Once there was a wealthy merchant in Baghdad who had a servant that he liked very much. This servant came to him one day pale and trembling, and the merchant said, "Whatever is the matter?"_

 _"_ _Master," said the servant, "I saw Death in the market today, and he pointed at me. I am sure that my time has come, but I think I can outrun him. He seems a bit rickety. Please, master, give me a fine horse and the money to go to Samarra tonight, and maybe I can evade Death. I beg you, for the sake of all I have ever done for you."_

 _The merchant said, "Of course. Take my best horse," and he outfitted the servant with fine clothes and food besides. He saw the servant off from the gates of Baghdad. Then, as he was returning through the city, he ran into Death at the market._

 _"_ _My good fellow," said the merchant sternly, "why did you point at my servant this morning? You scared him."_

 _"_ _Oh," said Death contritely, "I'm quite sorry. I didn't mean to point at him — I was simply confused, and I was trying to make sure that I still see straight with these old eyes. It's just that I was surprised to run into your servant here today, for I have an appointment in Samarra with him tonight."_

Lenore looked up from the scribbles in her journal, remembering the story that frightened her as a child and even still fifteen years later, _The Appointment in Samarra_.

She continued to write.

 _I cannot help but wonder, in light of recent circumstances, if Death can be avoided completely while still keeping one's humanity. I know now that the man I'm sure I care for deeply_ — _I can barely call what I feel is love as I have not known him for very long, is a vampire and with that comes immortality. He and his family have evaded Death after all these years and still have only kept a sliver of who they once were before they were changed. It's an intriguing thought…_

 _I now know why he has not taken a wife, only children. I am going to meet them on Saturday. I am excited to find out wether or not I can be good for them and wether or not they will like me. I know that I will be in a house full of vampires but I do not feel afraid, if I was smart enough, I might've ended Carlisle and I's relationship but I suppose I am a fool._

 _I care about him, very deeply. More so than I dare to admit…perhaps one day, when the air is right and the night is perfect I will tell Carlisle the truth._

 _But the one thing that is on my mind the most, it's not that this man is a vampire and says that he is designed to kill, but rather the fact that I find myself wondering if I'm even good enough for him, he is immortal, he will never die, never age, he will witness the end of time, he will meet others of his kind…I just wonder if I am the right person he should have introduced into this life. That I, until recently, thought only existed in books and the movies._

 _It almost seems that way, he's the perfect man paired with an imperfect woman, the plot of just about every book I've read and every cheesy chic-flick I've seen. Then again, he has his imperfections too, at least I think he does, he's just a helluva lot better at hiding them than I am._

 _I wonder if me, Lenore Fischer, who has dreamed of being an actress since she was old enough to dream, this clumsy woman who trips over her own two left feet, whose always wanted a taste of love, can be taken as she is._

 _I would give it all, I would sacrifice everything. He might tell me he's not worth fighting for, but I can't help it. He's all that I've wanted and more…_

Lenore smiled at the page and continued to write.

* * *

"Wait, let me get this straight, _you_ told _her_ about _us?"_ Rosalie asked as she sat before Carlisle.

"Yes, I didn't really have a choice, she needed to know," he answered sheepishly. Carlisle might have been the leader of the coven and the father of these young adults but truth be told, he was somewhat scared of Rosalie when she was angry. He didn't know how Emmett kept a hold on that woman.

"Looks like this is just going to be another Bella and Edward love story all over again, isn't it?" She sighed though gritted teeth.

"Rose, that's not fair. We all know how difficult that was for all of us," Carlisle stopped her before she could continue on her rampage.

"I think it'll be great," Alice said. The family, including Jake, sat around the dinner table, though they did not eat. They only used that particular set furniture for family meetings that involved all of them, including the outcast werewolf.

"Yeah, it could be good," Renee chimed in, "I've always wanted to see Carlisle with someone other than us."

"You planning on biting her?" Jake asked the question on everyone's mind.

"No, I don't. She said that she doesn't care that we're not human and she's not like us."

"Most of us…" Edward whispered.

"Edward, don't," Bella told him sternly.

"So, when do we get to meet her?" Alice turned the conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Tomorrow."

"Okay, well, we'd better get a move on then. Jasper, Bella and I will go out on a hunt and we'll be back by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Alice. One more thing," he turned to Renee, "I didn't tell her about you Re," Carlisle called to his grandchild in a nickname he'd given to her, "she thinks that you are all my children. If you want me to tell her, I can."

"No, I will. It's a long story and it's a good way for her to learn about us, though the eyes of someone who's mortal."

"About that," Carlisle began, "have you ever thought about…changing?"

"I have," Renee answered.

"And?" Jacob asked, not sure what the boundaries were for werewolf and vampire couples, but he'd already broken all of the other rules to being a werewolf, what was one more?

"I don't know, what about you? You're life is longer but it won't last forever. You'll die."

"So, I'll take that as a 'no' for now," Carlisle said sounding slightly defeated, but it was her choice and if he couldn't stand by that then what kind of a leading figure was he supposed to be? He knew that the young woman cared deeply for Jake, that she would do anything and be anything for him and vise versa. He only witnessed just an inkling of the affection the two shared.

* * *

 _October 17, 2015_

 _I'm going to meet them today...wish me luck!_

Lenore scribbled down as she brushed her teeth.

* * *

She marveled up at the house before her. Her mouth hung agape as Carlisle strolled around the car to open the door for Lenore. She continued to stare at the modern dressings that was the exterior. The path that led up to the house was made of dark wood chipping and shrubberies on either side with a mixture of pink, red and yellow flowers. They were slowly dying but did not take away from the glamor before her.

The doctor held out his hand and she reached for it, she continued to gaze at the spectacle before her. The windows paneled just about every wall reaching from the ceiling to the floor. Inside, one could see the mixture of modern and antique furnishings, both mixed and matched but blended well together.

"I know, it's not subtle, if I had my way I'd have chosen something a bit less grand but the kids wanted it. I thought, 'How could I refuse them?'"

"It's beautiful. I should have expected this from a doctor who's lived for the past few centuries," she smiled up at him. If the vampire could have blushed, he would have. Instead, he opted to give her a smirk, his head tilted down as he looked at her through his eye lashes. Lenore found that look both innocent and enticing.

As they walked to the large French door, the shuffling of the wood chips beneath their feet made the only noise save for nearby birds and the wind rustling the trees. She took in the surroundings looking at the gardened patio. It was more like something from out of a cheap romance movie than anything a household of vampires would own.

She thought about asking about stakes though the heart, sleeping in sarcophagi, and if this house was just the facade and the actual place they stayed in was hidden in the basement or attic but she thought it might've been a bit insulting.

Carlisle led her though the door and Lenore was greeted with a young woman shorter than her with dark, short hair to match. Her face was angular with a pointed nose and pointed chin but the one thing that might have made people believe she was Carlisle's own kin was the golden eye color they both seemed to share.

The short woman gave Lenore a smile and a hug. It was unexpected so Lenore hunched over, with her arms hanging at right angles to her body. Her eyes shot open as she was stunned by how cold the lady's skin was as opposed to Lenore's own. She thought she'd grown used to it, but alas, it seemed she hadn't.

"Lenore, this is…" Carlisle began.

"Alice," the shorter woman cut in, "I have a feeling you're going to be with us for a very long time."

"Hi, I'm Len…"

"Lenore, but most people call you just 'Lea'."

"I take it Carlisle's been talking about be behind my back?" Lenore asked as she shot Carlisle a sideways glance. She noticed he looked embarrassed. His eyes were wide as quarters but he tried to seem disinterested.

"Some," Alice looked to Carlisle, she was playfully torturing him and she loved it, "but you see, I have visions of the future and I saw you coming once you decided on this path."

"Wait, hang on a minute…" Lea began.

"Alice, where's everyone else?" The doctor asked as he tried his damnedest to be polite. Lea didn't notice as she was still thinking about what Alice had said, but he looked like he was going to have a very interestingly worded discussion with Alice after today.

"They're upstairs, I'll tell them you're both here," Alice said as she flew like a fairy up the stairs that contained several landings.

"Sorry about that. Alice…she…" he tried finding the right words, "she has a very interesting character once you get to know her."

"No! Don't be, I just wasn't expecting that. She's personable."

"Well, what were you expecting?" Carlisle asked. He was actually interested in what she had to say. He wanted to know about her thoughts.

"Uh, coffins and capes I guess," Lenore let out an unsteady laugh.

"No dear," he joked with her, "that'll be the Volturi."

Lenore didn't get the joke.

"Guess I can cross ' _turns into a bat_ ' off my list then?"

"Yes, what else needs crossing out?"

" _Date a vampire doctor, get to meet his children and hope to hell they don't end up pouring the blood out of my body and drink it from of crystal chalices_."

Carlisle laughed a genuine laugh. He didn't mind that she brought a bit of light into the darkness that came with being what he was, besides, he made fun of her being a human.

He smiled as he watched her walk over to the black, grand piano that sat on an incline in the floor. She took the single step up and marveled at the beauty.

"It's beautiful," she told him without looking up. Her fingers caressed the soft wood as she smelt a bit of dust in the strings. Lenore liked the smell of dust and wood.

"Do you play?" They'd never really talked about music before though the doctor knew that it was once of Lenore's passions.

"No, not the piano but I do play a kazoo. Does that count?" She asked teasing him.

"No. I don't think so."

"What about you? Do you play?"

"No, but Edward does. I do, however, play the whistle." They both waited a beat and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Maybe…" Lenore spoke though gasps of breath as she tried to stifle her laugh, "maybe we… maybe we should start a band…"

This only served to make them laugh harder as Lenore pictured her and Carlisle going out on stage in front of three people as they tooted renditions of songs by Chaos Chaos and Lord Huron.


	9. Enjoy Their Moment

Alice walked back down and stood at the landing on the stairs and watched the spectacle before her with a solemn expression. Yes, she was happy for Carlisle, but the future he and Lea shared, Alice could not foresee the coming days' events and it made her weary. She didn't know how long it was going to last. There were a million and one possibilities as to why the relationship would be cut short, perhaps they would later find that it wasn't meant to be or perhaps it was the fact that Carlisle was immortal and Lenore was not. Lea could be injured and therefore die. It was a morose thought but she set it aside and let the couple enjoy their moment while they still had it, but the thought was always in the back of Alice's mind that it would not last forever and when it ended, she didn't know what Carlisle was going to do.

Carlisle had told Alice he did not want to know what the future possibly held for them, and now, the option of knowing was completely out of the question for when Alice looked at Lenore, her visions became foggy and unclear. It was a terrifying thought. Alice had been so used to seeing the countless possibilities that a single person held but Lenore Fischer came up blank and she didn't know why.

She waited until they'd slowly stopped laughing and cleared her throat to grab the couple's attention. They looked up from where they stood at the piano, their smiles betraying the insecurity Alice felt.

"They're as ready as they'll ever be for you," she told them as she walked up the stairs a completely different woman from whom Lenore met just a few minutes before.

"Okay, we'll be up in a bit," Carlisle said watching the fortune-teller ascend the staircase.

"Are you ready?" He asked, turning his attention back to Lea.

"Give me a few human minutes? Is there a bathroom? I know it's kind of a stupid question."

"No, it isn't, and yes, it's just over here."

He led her by the small of her back away from the piano and walked her to an alcove that contained a couch, knee-high coffee table and a smaller room just off the the side. The furthest wall was lined with a bookcase that contained, upon further inspection, several medical journals, thick paged stories of lore and mystery and a few others that were significantly thinner than the rest. Lea walked over to the smaller room Carlisle led her to not sure what she'd find but nevertheless closed the door behind her.

She took in her reflection in the mirror. Her face had gone a slight shade of pink from laughter. Her cheeks hurt from smiling and her eyes gleamed. She was glowing. She took a deep breath and smiled to herself.

 _Okay, you've got this. If they're as amazing as Carlisle, you've got this._

She washed her hands as her palms had become a bit clammy and dried them using the towel on the towel rack. She found it somewhat odd that the bathroom even had soap and a hand towel. If they were vampires and were immortal, what was even the point of trying to fend off germs? Then again, it may have been habit, Carlisle was a doctor after all.

She walked back out to find him standing at a nearby bookcase skimming though the pages of one of the books. The book he held was thinner than the rest.

"It's a series of poems by a number of authors. When one has lived to be as old as I am, one learns to appreciate a different outlook on life than one's own," he said as she was handed the book.

The cover read, _Cavalcade of Poems_.

The cover was black paperback with a picture of taraxacum blowing in the wind. When she opened it, the glue was failing the pages as some of them were only hanging on by the paper's corner. Carefully, she looked at the publisher's page and read it was printed in the nineteen-sixty five, about the same time Lea's mother was born. The pages were yellow and the ink slightly faded from over-reading but someone had tried to preserve it as some of the letters were inked over in pen.

Lenore flipped though the pages and landed upon a smashed, dried flower petal. The poem it lay upon was named _The Listeners_ by Walter de La Mare.

 _'_ _Is there anybody there?' said the Traveller,_

 _Knocking on the moonlit door;_

 _And his horse in the silence champed the grasses_

 _Of the forest's ferny floor:_

 _And a bird flew up out of the turret,_

 _Above the Traveller's head:_

 _And he smote upon the door again a second time;_

 _'_ _Is there anybody there?' he said._

In her mind's eye, Lenore pictured a Traveller, weary from his travels: his breeches damp and darkened with mud at the knee where his worn-out boot's did not reach. His face was scruffy and under his eyes were darkened from lost sleep. His hair was oily and his lips slightly chapped. The man carried a sword bloodied with the liquid of his enemies. When the Traveller spoke, his words caught and formed small clouds near his mouth in the cold, misty air.

 _But no one descended to the Traveller;_

 _No head from the leaf-fringed sill_

 _Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,_

 _Where he stood perplexed and still._

 _But only a host of phantom listeners_

 _That dwelt in the lone house then_

 _Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight_

 _To that voice from the world of men:_

 _Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,_

 _That goes down to the empty hall,_

 _Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken_

 _By the lonely Traveller's call._

The Traveller looked up from the large, wooden door, a fortress protecting the absent people. Warm beds and fireplaces near tables where the absentees sat with plenty of food and wine as they dined and laughed. He heard nothing from within, only the hollow winds blowing though the halls unguarded. Perhaps the beds were not as warm and the fires not lit, there would be no food and wine so to speak making the Traveller all the more homesick.

 _And he felt in his heart their strangeness,_

 _Their stillness answering his cry,_

 _While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,_

 _'_ _Neath the starred and leafy sky;_

 _For he suddenly smote on the door, even_

 _Louder, and lifted his head:—_

 _'_ _Tell them I came, and no one answered,_

 _That I kept my word,' he said._

Lenore heard his voice as the Traveller's heart sank but knew that he was true to his word, an honorable man.

 _Never the least stir made the listeners,_

 _Though every word he spake_

 _Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house_

 _From the one man left awake:_

 _Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,_

 _And the sound of iron on stone,_

 _And how the silence surged softly backward,_

 _When the plunging hoofs were gone._

Carlisle listened to her as she read the poem aloud. Her words were like glass for if he made a single noise, it was sure to shatter his illusion. When she finished, she looked up from the book.

"It's sad," she told him as she looked back down at the page and skimmed though the words a few more times.

"What is?"

"The idea that someone was listening but no one was actually _listening_ to the Traveller. They heard his words, heard his knock, but no one came. No one answered."

"I suppose it is. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I think so."

Lenore replaced the book on the shelf and walked over to the stairs and begun their ascent. When they reached the top, they found what looked to be two teenaged boys in an arm wrestle, both refusing to move an inch but gave each other lip.

"Sorry," Alice said from where she stood looking at the spectacle, "there was nothing I can do, they've been trying to settle this bet for about the past twenty-five years and they picked today of all days to try."

One of the boys had blonde, curled hair that reached down barely touching his shoulders and the other had his brownish blonde hair tousled in spikes. There was another person, sitting on the table leaning into the wrestle as if it were an organism under a microscope. He was inarguably larger than every one else in the room; his shoulders were very broad and his hair was cut closely to his head. If he stood, he was sure to be a few inches taller than Carlisle.

Alice, told Carlisle and Lea that they'd been at it for hours and they haven't even moved. She said that Emmett, the biggest one there, was betting on Edward, the boy with the brown hair, Rosalie was betting on Jasper, the only other blonde in the immediate area save for Lenore and Carlisle, Bella, the girl with long, black hair was betting on Edward, and Alice, herself was going for Jasper. None of them paid attention to the new couple as they were more interested in who would be gaining and losing money and bragging rights.

Jasper looked up for just a moment at the couple before them accompanied by Alice and just like that, his hand slammed into the table. He'd lost his concentration for just a second and he lost. Lenore's eyes didn't even see any of it as it happened just that one moment, they were in an intense wrestle and the next Edward was laughing.

"What happened to, 'Never lose focus.'?" Edward grinned.

"Rose, Alice, I do believe that I am owed a car and a few thousand dollars?" Edward continued to gloat as he stood with all of his righteous glory and looked to Alice as she stood next to Carlisle and a woman that none of them had ever seen before today.

Edward's face dropped to the floor and his eyes shot wide. He was acting in no way a proper young man of his age, or the age he was turned, should act. Carlisle looked at the young man with a disapproving look.

"Sorry, I didn't realize we had company," Edward looked to the floor and kitted his brows together as if apologizing hurt him.

"Edward, Japer," Carlisle pointed them out, "this is Lenore."

The two wrestlers walked up and Edward shook hands with the young woman.

"Lenore, this is Edward," he indicated toward the name's owner.

"Hello. Again, I'm sorry about that."

"And this is Jasper."

The blonde did not shake her hand but gave her a nod of his head and a, "How do you do, ma'am?"

Lenore noticed he had a slight southern twang in his speech.

"I'm very well actually, and don't call me 'ma'am', it makes me sound old," Lea smiled a wicked grin to which Jasper returned.

"Lenore, this is Bella," the doctor told her as the newest addition to the coven had moved to stand next to Edward.

"Hey," was all Bella had to offer. She did not want to get too close to Lenore for fear of what might happen. Bella was still trying to suppress her desire for human blood.

"Welcome to the family!" Emmett jumped off the table top and cut in before Carlisle had a chance to introduce him to Lea.

"I'm glad to be apart of it," she told him as he moved to stand next to the blonde female.

Lea noticed that they all shared the similar eye color just in different shades ranging from a bright almost yellow to a deep gold to light brown.

"And this is Rosalie," the head of house indicated to another standing a few feet away. Rosalie just gave the human a snobby look and walked off.

"That's my cue," Emmett said as his smile faded just for a moment, if Lenore wasn't looking, she would never have caught it.

"Where's Jake and Renee?" Carlisle asked to no one in particular.

"They should be around somewhere, they were just here," Jasper said still trying to gauge Lenore. He noticed that she had no hint of anxiety a human would normally feel if they knew what and where they just walked into.

Instead, she felt happy and just a bit nervous, meeting new people jitters, Jasper figured. He found that the woman held herself to a high standard despite the fact that she was a bit clumsy. He looked her over once more, reaching into that abyss of emotion that he'd grown to know so well and sent her nothing but a calming feeling. Lenore took a sigh and smiled just a bit wider.

Jasper looked over toward Carlisle and sensed something he'd never felt come from him before. It was an intriguing emotion. It was joy, and happiness and the feeling one got when their stomach turned in knots. It wasn't anticipation but waiting for something to happen be it good or bad. The thing that made Jasper furrow his brows was the fact the feeling Carlisle had was held back.

If she was already accepting of him and ready for anything that was thrown their way, why would he be in anyway reserved?

Edward looked at the couple as they walked off to find Renee and Jacob while Carlisle showed Lenore the house. The mind reader had the same ideas as Jasper and read the thoughts of both of them simultaneously.

 _That wasn't so bad. I'm pretty sure they like you, they don't look at you like a meal, except for the girl with the black hair. What was her name again? Alice? No…she was the one with the short hair. Bella, that's it, that's the one. Better be careful around her,_ Lea thought.

 _Damn it Edward, I know what you're doing. I can always tell, you might not think I know, but I do. Knock it off._

Though he was walking away, Carlisle smiled to himself.

"What's wrong?" Lea asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about something," he knew Edward was able to hear him and he knew that Edward was smiling to himself as well.

* * *

Hello my dear readers of the Earth! Sorry this chapter took a bit longer to write but I decided to publish it anyway despite the fact that it isn't at the standard I'd like. I've had to write and rewrite the meet and greets, scrap this and keep that so this is how it turned out. I hope that I haven't failed in building up Lea meeting the family.

I hope you all are liking the story and by the way, I do see the reviews, new follows and favorites and it just makes me super happy to see them and know that there is someone out there actually reading this. You guys are the main reason why I've kept writing this, that and the fact that I wanted to write something that was mine.

If you have any questions, just send me a message and I'll try my best to answer. Leave a review and tell me what you think, if there's anything you want me to add or if you'd like to see a chapter though the eyes of someone else's point of view other than Carlisle's or Lenore's.

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance

 _...now back to writing the next chapter..._


	10. Losing Her

The doctor's children had never had a potential 'mother' before now. Yes, they had the parents that had given them life but they died just as everyone else they knew did eventually but things like that didn't matter. Who they were in their past lives didn't matter to anyone mostly because they had no clue as to who they were.

They considered Carlisle to be the only father they'd ever truly known but he would never try to replace the actual parents of his coven. It was just curious to see him taking more than an interest in someone, someone who knew about what they were and faced it with trust and confidence.

Carlisle held his emotions on his sleeve and opened up to anyone who would ask, but he'd never truly let himself experience what it was like to love someone because he knew that he did love her though he did not tell. He figured that the pulling he felt when she was near or far was the feeling one got when they knew they were to be together, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, till death did they part. Only, he didn't want it to be for the worse because who would? Carlisle would never want to burden her and if asked to leave and never be seen again, he would because it was what she wanted. He never wanted her to be sick, yes, he was a doctor and more than capable of healing her but keeping her in good health was for his own selfish reasons: her blood would not smell the same, it would become revolting.

Carlisle knew that if Lenore was on the brink of death, he could save her and offer her the type of life he led, one that involved immortality but also brought a fear far worse than death—killing another to sustain one's own life. He thought about it a few times, about changing her but they didn't actually sit down and talk about it. He was sure she thought about it as well, what he had to offer, but she said nothing.

The only people who knew an inkling as to what Carlisle felt were the two men that looked into his mind: Jasper and Edward. Yes, they'd try to explain it to the others of the coven and help them understand that it was just as the way Edward felt toward Bella, how Alice looked at Jasper, how Emmett was able to keep Rosalie in check. It would seem that Carlisle had her.

The couple walked along the hallway that led to a large room, the heavy brown door was closed. Carlisle took a key from his pocket, put the key in the knob and turned.

"This is my study," he told her as he led her inside and left the door open behind him. Lenore looked around the room, there were numerous books that lined three of the four walls painted a light blue to complement the hardwood floors and thick white throw carpet beneath a large oak desk.

Carlisle walked over to the object and pulled a string to turn on the modern desk lamp. That's when she saw them, on the back wall were dozens of paintings from different eras of the past few hundred years dominated by the largest in the middle. It was of four men: they stood on what looked to be a balcony lined with several pillars in the background. They were dressed in period clothing each dawning waistcoats that seemed to be inspired by English, Itialian, Spanish and French dress clothing.

Two of the four looked down at the lower level not pictured. When she took a closer look, Lenore noticed one man, different from the group, standing off to the side as he was not the prominent figure in the painting. His hair was shorter than the rest and was blonde, he leaned against a pillar with a swagger consistent with the time. It was Carlisle.

If Lenore didn't know any better she'd have thought they belonged to the House of Medici, a family originating from Italy and rose to prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the fifteenth century.

"Who are these men?" She asked still studying the painting.

"The one in the middle is Aro. The two off to his sides are Caius and Marcus," Carlisle indicated to the two as he said their names.

"They're a coven in Italy. It was smaller back then and for a time, I stayed with them but left to come here to America. They are the equivalent of vampire royalty."

"Is there such a thing?"

"No, not exactly but if there was, it'd be them. They do keep the peace and are a force to be reckoned with. If a vampire begins to make a spectacle of them self, the Volturi take it upon themselves to find the committer and are killed unless they have special powers like Alice or Edward. If they do, they are offered a place within their guard."

"I thought that vampires were immortal," Lenore said as she turned her attention back to Carlisle.

"They cannot age but they can be killed, one must burn the body left behind, if not, the vampire can pick up the broken pieces of their body and mend them but it is excruciating and may take several years."

"It sounds painful."

"I wouldn't know, I've never done it, but there are stories."

"Do you ever think of going back to them?"

"No, I have my reasons for staying," he said as he looked at her with an expression Lenore didn't know what to call.

"They're here?" The couple head someone from outside in the other room ask.

"Yes, they're in the study," Edward told the disembodied voice. A moment later, they saw a young woman walk to the threshold of the room accompanied by a darker skinned man.

"Re, Jake, come in. Meet our guest," Carlisle said as his face lit up at seeing his grandchild.

The two walked all the way in and came face to face with the woman they'd heard so much about and were glad to finally put a face to the name.

"Renee, Jacob, this is Lenore," the doctor said as Lea shook hands with the two.

"It's nice to meet you finally, Carlisle has said so much about you. He can't shut up about it," the woman, Renee, told her.

"It's nice to meet you too, I'm glad to finally know all of Carlisle's children."

"Funny you should mention, I'm his granddaughter."

"I didn't know vampires can have children."

"They can't but it's a long story, I'll explain it someday but you have to meet Jake," Renee said with a bright smile. She seemed to be the most 'normal', whatever the word meant.

"Hello."

"Hey," Jake said as he shook Lea's hand and gave Carlisle a warning look. Lea noticed the young man's hand was incredibly warm.

"Anyway, we'd better be off. Billy is expecting us, we'll see you around then, yeah?" Renee said as she took Jake's hand were gone again just as soon as they'd come.

"She seems nice," Lenore told Carlisle as soon as the two were gone.

"Yeah, she is." He said as he took her by the hand and led her to see the rest of the house now that everyone had had a chance to meet Lenore.

* * *

The clouds hung over in a dreary ambiance as Lenore sat at the nook windowsill watching the rain pour down onto the world outside. With no job and Carlisle working at his, she was fairly bored as she heard the pitter of the rain as it fell onto the roof of her apartment building. She nursed the earl-grey tea with milk and extra sugar. She took a sip and found that it was scalding hot and burned her tongue.

The heat from her body began to fog the window and she wiped it down using the sleeve of her sweater. She looked away from the window down to the phone she kept in her lap and decided to call her sister. She wanted to see the kids and her sister as they'd not really made time for such matters since the hospital trip, quite literally.

Lea dialed the number and it rang a few times until someone answered.

"Hello?" A male voice answered.

"John? I didn't know you came back. How was New York?" Lenore asked her sister's husband. Lea and John were quite good friends as the former introduced him to his wife. They got along quite well together and on occasion, were partying buddies.

"Yeah, I came back a few days ago. New York was great, glad to be away from the rain for a few days."

"I know, don't get me wrong, I love the rain but I like the sun too. Did you get the promotion?"

John was a colonist for a local newspaper and, for a segment he wrote, received attention from the New York Times for his work on social aspects of hierarchies and how it impacted that of lower classes.

"I don't know yet, they said they'd give me a call within the next few days. So, what's up?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, the sky," Lea heard John chuckle, "anyway, I was just really bored and I wanted to see the baby, probably catch up too."

"Aren't you supposed to be going to rehearsals for the play?"

"It's a musical, not a play and no. We had to cancel," Lea said sounding slightly annoyed.

"That sucks, anyway, are you going to come over? We could always use the extra help, it's not easy with three other kids around with a two-month-old baby."

"Yeah, I'll be over in a bit. Hey, what's for dinner?" Lea asked, when she visited, she made a habit of getting a free meal out of it too.

"Hamburgers and hot dogs."

"You really do know how to spoil a woman."

"Then hurry up while the food is still hot."

"Okay," Lenore hung up the phone and as she was about to make her way to getting ready, her phone rang again. Without looking at the caller I.D., she answered.

"John, I already told you…"

"Lea?" A man asked. It took her a second to recognize his disgruntled voice. It was Peter.

"Peter, hey. What's up?" She asked nonchalant.

"I was thinking about you and I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me later on tonight," Lea noticed his voice and something about it seemed off.

"Oh, I was just about to have dinner with my sister and her family. I'm sorry," she waited a beat, "hey, are you okay?"

The man on the other end of the line sighed, "I care about you."

Lenore grinned and took a beat, "I care about you too."

"No, I mean…" Peter tried to find a lack of better words, "I like you...a lot and it sucks that we don't get to see each other every day any more."

Lenore's smile faded, "I didn't know you felt that way. I'm sorry, but I've met someone else."

"Who?" He asked, his voice raised a few octaves.

"Carlisle Cullen."

"The doctor?"

"Yes," Lenore answered curtly.

"Is it the good looks?" He asked.

Lea dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands until she could feel trace amounts of blood.

"Don't be so stupid. Of course not," she answered though clenched teeth.

"Is it the money?"

"That's nice," Lea spoke, "I'm glad you think I'm petty."

"I don't like him…" He began.

"Why? Because he's not you?" She bit back.

"No! That's not it…there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way!"

The way this man who had no right to talk about Carlisle, made Lenore more than angry.

"Shut up, Peter! You're just jealous because you've got the world's biggest crush…"

"I'm trying to look out for you…as a friend!" he interrupted her train of thought.

"Don't give me that shit! We both know that this has to do with you and me and your delusional way of thinking! You don't think that I listened to the whispers about us at the theater and what they thought we were?" She yelled back, no longer sitting in the nook and held the phone tighter in her hand.

"Did it ever occur to you that he has kids just a few years younger than you?"

"What does it matter? All families are different! If you must know, his sister died and he adopted them and as for Rose and Jasper, they grew up in an orphanage!" She knew it was a lie, however, Lenore would defend Carlisle until her dying day. She didn't care what people thought of her, but she cared more than anything about him and his family.

Lea continued on in her rampage, "Every child he has is because he has a heart! That's more than I can say about you, judging a man just because he cares…" she looked at the phone, "good bye and don't call me again," she hung up the phone and threw it onto the nook.

As she walked out, she grabbed her keys and wallet as she intended to buy some gas for her car that was just under half a tank. Lea stormed down the stairs, walked over to her car, climbed in a slammed the door behind her. She put the key in the ignition, reversed out of her parking space and without looking both ways to turn onto the road, she began to make her way to the gas station just a few blocks down…

* * *

"Okay, do you feel any pain or dizziness?" Carlisle asked as he grabbed a pen light from his lab coat.

"No, not anymore," his patient said as the doctor shined a light into both of his eyes to see if the pupils contracted.

"Good. Here's a prescription for medication incase the migraines come back and you should be alright," Dr. Cullen said as he wrote several things down on the clipboard he held and replaced his pen back into his coat.

"Thank you, doctor."

"I'm just doing my job," he gave the man a smile. As he walked away, he thought about Lea and about the movie night they had planned for later on that day after he got off of his shift. He sighed and checked the time on his watch.

 _5:47_ he read.

 _Can't time just go by a little faster?_

He was anxious to see Lea as they had not seen each other since she met his family a few days ago. In that time, life seemed to go by slower than usual. He'd been busy with working and spent late nights in his office sometimes till well past twelve at night but truth be told, he didn't mind. The only thing he did mind was that he had been unable to make time for Lenore, he felt like he'd been somewhat neglectful toward her making the date-night they planned all the more necessary.

He walked behind the nurse's station while he reread his most recent patient's symptoms, and set the clipboard down, at the bottom he signed his name. Just then, he heard the emergency doors swoosh open.

He saw the spectacle and ran over toward the rapid response team on duty. As he was the main doctor in the hierarchy, it fell well within his purview.

"Code Blue Adult, Code Blue Adult!" He heard the technician yell.

Carlisle noticed something about this patient that he'd never noticed before even with emergencies such as these. He smelled the blood and it reminded him of the smell of damp earth just after raining and a flower, freshly picked, still too young to wither. He thought it was just his mind playing tricks and went back to the calamity before him.

"Female, early twenties, weight about 130, massive trauma to the head, probably multiple fractures, positive loss of consciousness at the scene…" the response team handed the patient over to Carlisle.

"What's your name miss?" Carlisle asked as he began to look her over and gauge the injuries.

"Can you hear me?" The woman didn't respond.

"Miss, can you hear me?" Carlisle asked again.

 _Yes, I can…_ she thought but she didn't feel her lips moving.

"Loss of verbal skills, possible bleeding in the brain…" the doctor told Clara as she wrote everything down.

He checked the patient's pupils, "Try and hold still," he told the woman.

"Both eyes are open, pupils reactive…still I want to order a head C.T.." he said to his team as he waved the light from his pen.

He continued on, "We're going to need three units of blood…" he told Clara taking his stethoscope from around his neck and put the ear pieces in his ears.

"Left lung is flailing, I need a 32 French tube now…"

 _Where am I? What am I doing?_

A few moments later a nurse walked in with the nutrition that sustained the man who'd just ordered it, not for him, but for the woman who's life he was trying to save.

"Hang two units of blood on the infuser. I need an x-ray and somebody page surgery!" Carlisle didn't yell but the urgency in his voice could be heard, then there was that smell again, a soft, sweet smell that wafted though the air. Perhaps it was just the woman's perfume.

Just then the woman felt something wrong…

 _Beep…be…bee…_

"Stay with me!"

 _Beep…beep…beep…_

She tried to listen to the man, when she looked up, he looked like the closest thing to an angel she might ever get to see.

Though she remembered something he'd said to her a while back, _"I'm a creature of the underworld, I can't afford to love someone…"_ She knew that once, it might have been true but no longer.

The harsh lighting was dulled by the silhouette of his face, she looked into the eyes that she'd grown to know so well.

 _What's that noise?_

"We're losing her!" Carlisle looked her in the eye and she felt complete and at peace with the world. She was happy for she would have died a sad woman had she not been able to look at the man she loved just once more.

The woman felt her chest being pushed on, hard. Like someone was hitting her with a hard object but at the same time it was soft.

 _It's not hard, it's firm…_

The firm hitting came in timed beats, one after the other after the other.

Slowly, Lenore let herself drift into the feeling until even that became numb, the only thing she was left with was her thoughts and even those slowly began to drift. Her eyes faded from bright to dark and back again until her vision became so blurry, her eyes closed.

 _Beep…beep…..be….._


	11. The Memory Faded

He'd tried everything, everything that was in his power. He was a doctor and that meant that there were some people that could not be saved but knowing that fact didn't make his job any easier.

"What was her name?" Carlisle asked as he looked at the clock on the wall to give an approximate time of death.

"Her driver's license was recovered from the scene, Fischer. Lenore Fischer."

"Wai…wait, what?" He asked not quite sure wether or not he heard Clara correctly. He looked back at the face of the person he'd just killed. He hadn't recognized her before, perhaps he was too busy trying to save her he didn't bother to even glance. If he was saving someone on the brink of death, did it matter what they looked like? In that one instance, it did. Perhaps he might've given it just a bit more though he gave everything he had and then some. He might have been a bit quicker without trying to arouse suspicion. He might have thought harder about ways to save this woman.

"Lenore Fischer," Clara looked at the man, "doctor, are you alright?"

Carlisle stepped back from the gurney and bumped into the counter supplied with medical equipment.

He looked at the _thing_ on the operating table. It's face was bloodied, bruised and swollen. It looked in no way to be the woman he was to meet within just a few hours. Lenore's features were delicate, her eyes were large and doe shaped…

The _thing's_ hair was matted and stuck together. The limbs were out at odd angles. Boney lumps and gashes showed where used to be soft, pale skin. But beneath it all, he could still see her. He could still make out the trace hint of his Lenore though his mind was still trying to catch up.

He wondered how he'd been unable to see it before.

" _Can vampires go into shock?"_

He remembered being asked that question what seemed like a lifetime ago. Not many years had passed but it seemed the question still rang in his ears. Bella had asked him that on a phone as Edward stood nearby.

Carlisle knew about love only because he craved it with every fiber of his being. He'd been so close to feeding this hunger. For his human aspect, or what remained, emotion, empathy, friendship…love, his human aspect could no longer be had. It was this human aspect that provided the foundation for family, his family. What he felt, his children and grandchild felt as well. If anyone of the coven reached new heights, everyone else did too and helped the others to set a higher standard for living than previously thought. If someone hit rock bottom and kept falling, their family was there to help them along and climb back out of the abyss: together.

He wasn't alone but at the same time, he was, indefinitely. Those words, words he'd taught his children meant nothing to him any longer. He looked down at the floor, his eyes hazed over, if he could have, tears would have welled up. He felt the floor beneath him, it was shifting.

"Carlisle," etiquette be damned to Clara at the moment. He looked up from the floor as his head hung. He looked like a madman. His hair had become disheveled as he tried to save the woman. His normally steady hands shook as his chest heaved in and out.

He looked back at the face of the person he'd just killed, he looked at what he'd done, and back to his nurse.

"Carlisle, I know it never gets easier…" Clara spoke.

"No…no, that's not it…" he answered only after he found words and was still unsure if they were even formed correctly.

"What is it?" Clara asked growing concerned. It was rare that the doctor ever lost a patient, even within the five years since working at the hospital, Clara had seen all of Carlisle's most traumatized patients somehow manage to pull through and recover.

"I…" he no longer looked at the nurse, "I…I loved, Lea…" he said as he just about staggered back over to the gurney.

Without knowing what he was doing, he made his dominate hand into a fist, placing one on top the other and continued to press against her chest still trying to create a heartbeat. Carlisle counted in his head the number of beats. He took his face to her's and planted his lips on the _thing_ that Lea, _his Lea_ , had become. He tried to give her bloodied lips mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He tasted the blood and normally, his teeth would grow significantly for his source of food, only, they didn't. It was revolting as it coagulated and dried, staining her lips crimson.

He retreated back to C.P.R. and pressed harder, "…please…please…please…" he begged. He did not know who he was pleading to but in that moment, it just seemed like the best thing to do.

Clara stood by as she felt the hot sting of tears. The man didn't seem to want to give up.

"Carlisle…"

He ignored her. When she knew she was going to get no where with him, she let her friend and colleague be and slunk away from the room.

"Come on!" He yelled as he pressed harder and harder until he heard bones crack. To his highly sensitive ears, he could make out the sound though he knew Clara could hear nothing, not knowing she'd already left.

"You're not dead…you're not dead…you're not dead…"

Sometimes he jumbled the phrases together and others, his words were barely a whisper that escaped his lips.

When he knew it was a hopeless venture, he stepped back and for the first time in his existence as a vampire, he lost his footing. He fell to the floor and heaved in and out. He breathed so hard his chest made groaning noises that traveled out of his mouth and he wished himself to cry though he knew no liquid would come.

"It's your fault," he blamed himself.

He thought about her, not what she'd become: a broken, bloodied, bruised thing, but rather of her smile, her laugh, her pretty face…

She left him, she was his illusion, his dream, and now he'd woken up. She was the only thing he yearned for and he waited for his Lea to walk though the door and comfort him only she didn't come, she was replaced by this _thing_. She was gone and now, he wished he had given her everything. Carlisle supposed it was his payback for not doing so while she was alive.

 _Hold on to me again…come here._

Carlisle was tired of being alone. He had his family and knew they'd be there for him even in the darkest of times but his Lenore went off on her own and left him alone in this. He was tired of fighting, tired of trying. He was good at running but he was getting slower.

 _If you love me, don't let me go…_

He wanted to be away from this place. He felt it, in his un-beating heart, the absence she'd placed in her's. Some days, Carlisle was built of metal but he'd been stripped clean. He picked himself up off the floor and walked over to what was left of his love.

He looked down at her and in his mind's eye, he saw what she used to be: an actress, an artist, a clumsy, snarky, awkward woman who loved to laugh and make jokes. There was nothing that he could see that she wasn't but the darkness became her and she was no longer any of it.

 _"I will always be here for you and I will never go away."_

 _"Promise?"_

 _"I promise."_

With expert hands, he carefully reached around her neck and peeled the bloodied velcro off the orange neck brace. He placed it on the bed just next to Lea's hand. The thought about biting her crossed his mind but even though he knew there were some injuries even venom could not overcome, he damned it to hell. He was going to try. He couldn't lose her. _He couldn't._

He looked up to the windows of the room, the shades were drawn so no one could see the deed he was to fulfill. He looked again at her face: just a skeleton of bones wearing clothing stained with blood. The human soul is a terrible place but seeing as Carlisle wondered of he had one…he doubted he'd go to hell anyway.

 _Would I?_

Lenore's absent heartbeat charged him guilty of murder and biting her was the only thing he could do in a ditch attempt to save her.

He tilted her head away from him, leaned over and bit. His brows furrowed.

 _I need you to recover. Please, I can't make it on my own. I am alone…I am broken and cold as if I had been dwelling in a dungeon and you came and brought me a home. We're a team, we're in this together. You soften my every edge and made me a better man. You brought out the best in me that I could possibly offer._

 _If you survive, I'll give you everything I have...please. I'll teach you everything I know, I promise. I'll be better than I ever was. I'll hold you closer than ever and I will never let you go...I promise._

 _You are loved...more than you know. Though you may not know it, I'll show it in everything I do. I'll give it all away if it would make you happy..._

 _Stay with me..._

* * *

She wandered around in darkness that was her own mind. She looked, trying to find something without knowing what. She stumbled upon a scene from her life.

It was of her and her angel.

Music played on a bluetooth speaker from her phone. They danced slowly in her apartment. They both smiled and were content to have stayed in this moment forever. Lea smiled at the scene as she knew what was happening, the best parts of her life were flashing before her, most of which, though she hadn't known him long, were of Carlisle.

When the song ended they still held each other close at an arm's length.

 _More Than a Feeling_ by Boston had come on and Carlisle sang her the lyrics. He'd misspoken a few lines and Lea laughed just as he did as well. They danced crazily and sang out of tune, they acted as if no one was watching them to judge because there wasn't.

It was just Lenore and Carlisle…

The memory faded slowly away in a grey mist.

Lea continued to wander on the beach of her mind. She heard the waves as they sent both a calming and eerie feeling.

Every rock kicked stored certain memories labeled with numbers. She kicked another and found the day to be raining. It was her parent's house just on the edge of Forks' city boarders. Through the window, she could see that the power was off as thunder rolled above and a few seconds later lighting struck nearby.

The child Lenore used to be sat with her sister in the candle light as the storm had left them in a power outage. They sat at the kitchen table playing a card game. The children were alone in the house and when the power went out, Lea had become afraid so Anne comforted her.

 _Old maid…I lost. I always lost to Annie…_

A haze of smoke came upon the memory and Lea found herself in another area of her beach. She walked on the shore and over to a fallen tree and saw a car pass, her father's car. The dark brown truck drove on by not taking notice of Lenore.

When she was eight years old, her and her father drove out to Seattle to buy clothes for the upcoming school year. They listened to loud music as her father sang to her. Lea sang her bits and laughed when her father sung his…

Had she known that her father would leave their family, she would have made an effort to make more memories such as this.

Then, just like that, it was gone. Lea turned from the tree and instead felt herself touching the water, her feet were bare. The cold reached up to her knees. She looked out into the foggy mist and the most important memory played. The one she promised never to let go of.

She kissed Carlisle in his home. They were alone as Renee had gone out to see Charlie with Jake, Alice and Jasper had gone to the movies, Rose and Emmett were out of the country for a few months, and Edward and Bella had gone to Alaska to visit their cousins in Denali.

"Lenore, please…I can't," he sighed. Carlisle held the woman close in his arms, their foreheads touching, eyes closed and just a body's shift away from another breath-taking kiss.

"I know you can," she coaxed. Lea opened her eyes and stole a solemn glance from him. She knew beneath it was nothing but pure love and intimacy, but at the same time, it was restrained like Lenore was not getting all of him and Carlisle wasn't letting her take it.

"Just be gentle," at those words, Carlisle too looked at her and unknitted his brows. He looked into her dark eyes.

"I don't know if…"

"Please," she begged, "trust me."

He gave her a nod and shifted closer, their eyes locked in on one another's. Slowly, delicately, he planted his lips on her's as if one wrong move might shatter her into a million tiny pieces, just as well, it might have. Hands roamed freely and lips danced in a heated kiss of passion with both participants trying to outdo the other. Lea ran her fingers through his hair and tugged playfully eliciting a groan from the doctor.

When the kiss broke, she felt lightheaded and for a moment, Carlisle thought she was going to faint. When Lea regained her composure, he looked at her with a smug sense of self-satisfaction due to his ministrations. All that she had to do was quirk her brow and, if he could have, it would have sent him blushing.

He led her by the hand and into his suite. Since Lea had been spending more than a few nights there, Carlisle had taken it upon himself to buy her a bed. At night, they whispered in silence the way lovers do and when she grew tired, she snuggled up close to Carlisle. The only thing separating their entwined bodies was a layer of clothing and the duvet as the doctor did to want her to shiver in her sleep.

He'd lay awake as he did not sleep and would watch her. He wondered what she dreamt and if it was him she was seeing. Sometimes, she'd mumble his name and a sleepy smile would cross her face. He would kiss her forehead, the tip of her nose, or whichever cheek was not facing the pillow.

When morning came, she'd wake to breakfast in bed with a cup of her favorite drink just the way she liked it: sugar with a dash milk and just a drop of actual tea. While she ate, Carlisle would be in the shower and getting ready to head out to work. After she finished her breakfast and cleaned her dishes, she'd show herself out the door.

Only, this was the first time they were doing what she asked of him. He'd refused, not because he was not interested but rather worried about hurting her, he wouldn't even be able to look at himself in the mirror if any harm came to Lenore by his doing.

He laid her down and shifted his weight above her, straddling his love.

"Are you sure?" He asked, leaning his weight on his forearms placed on either side of her head. He played with a stray lock of her hair between his fingertips.

"As sure as I'll ever be," she said as she inhaled and gave him a reassuring smile. Then she did something unexpected and caught him off-guard, she grabbed his shoulders, lifted herself using her legs and pinned _him_ to the bed. They both laughed at the astonishment on Carlisle's face and when it subsided, he kissed her again, with more passion as if this kiss might have been their last. He trailed the kisses down her neck and it took everything from him to not bite, instead, he kissed her.

 _Love-bites_ …he thought.

Lea snaked her hands around his shoulders and pulled him closer though he was as close as two can be. She moved and the friction sent the equivalent of vampire chills and euphoria shooting though Carlisle's body. She sat up, still straddling him and looked down. She looked down and saw the man she knew she loved with every fiber of her being. His hair was pushed back in a way Lea had never seen, his eyes were darkened instead of golden brown and the rest was plastered with a look of longing. She never wanted to forget the moment and would think of it whenever she thought about this man.

He looked and her. They way her blonde hair was waved as it fell into her face that was blushed and her lips smiled. He wanted this memory, this moment, to last him the rest of forever.

She reached down to the collar of his button-up and undid the fasteners. He got the notion, sat up and shrugged it the rest of the way off revealing crystal-like skin beneath. It looked like his body was covered with diamonds underneath his skin. She leaned her head to get a better look as she'd never seen such a thing in her life. She knew that this was what he did in the sunlight as it streamed from the window, but she'd never witnessed it before that afternoon.

She kissed the spots that caught the light in her eyes and Carlisle reached one hand around her body in a tight embrace and with the other, pushed her head closer to him. He reached under her shirt feeling the hot, soft skin beneath.

Lea continued to kiss him and he continued to relish in it. With another kiss on his mouth, Lenore stood and undressed herself before him. What he saw amazed him beyond belief. Vampires gave off a type of pheromone that scented them like a cologne and made them appear more attractive than the average person, but that was nothing compared to her.

When she straddled him again, he was overcome with a passion he'd never, in his three hundred and sixty some odd years of existence, had ever felt before.

Unbeknownst to either of them, they conceived a child...

* * *

Okay, I know…it's a bit melodramatic but what's a vampire love story with out a bit of melodrama? And before you all start yelling at me, I'm already thinking of a few ideas for the next chapter! I hope you all like it and I hope I conveyed what Carlisle feels for Lenore correctly and vise-versa.

Tell me what you think by sending me a message or leaving a review! Speaking of reviews, to the reviewer Debbie Hicks, do you mind re-explaining that one to me? I got a few Star Trek references and that's about it...

Anyway, as always,

-Your daily dose of romance

P.S. if any of you guys follow my other stories, then you'll probably recognize that the last line was a stolen rewrite from _Till the End of Time_ , a Doctor Who fanfic that I had to put on hold for a while while I write this.


	12. Meant to Be

Hey guys! I just wanted to take the time and thank you all for the positive feedback that I have received from this story so far and say that the last chapter was inspired by a few songs called _We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow_ by Soko, _Say You Won't Let Go_ by James Arthur and _Let's Hurt Tonight_ by OneRepublic. Check them out, they're not my favorite songs but still are pretty good.

Anyway, if you have any questions, requests or anything like that, leave them down in the comments below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance

And now, back to the story…

* * *

Carlisle kissed the spot after his deed was done. When he removed his lips from her neck, he looked down at what he had done but now, there were was a bite wound. The outline of his teeth showed accompanied by bruising.

He moved down to the backs of her arms, her wrists, her thighs and the nonexistent pulse near her ankles. Then, he moved to where she would have had a pulse near her stomach and bit several times over as he tried to send his venom throughout her body.

As he bit, he inhaled and smelled something that was unfamiliar to him. It was not Lea's scent but was something else's. He inhaled again to make certain he was right about something. He reached his stone-cold hand out and touched her lower abdomen and he knew.

He looked back up to the face of his love, turned into this _thing_ , turned into the mother of his child.

He felt more broken that before.

"Please, if anyone is out there, make this work…" he prayed.

Lenore's eye went unmoving as the venom surged through her. In her mind, she was no longer watching scenes from her life as if it was a movie, instead, she screamed out in pain but no noise could be heard. She wanted to lock herself away, she wanted to die to escape the pain but seeing as that had already happened a few seconds ago, she'd gladly accept it all over again. She couldn't breath as her physical body showed no signs of moving. She couldn't think as she found herself to be somewhere between living and death.

It was agonizing.

The doctor looked down at her worriedly and waited. He knew if it worked, the venom would take, at the most, three days to just under a week and he was content to wait for her. However, he knew the procedures for patients who are confirmed dead and he regrettably made his way to carrying them out.

Carlisle knew Lenore might live in the basic physical sense but at the cost of never getting to see her family again made Carlisle feel like a selfish monster. He couldn't lose her but would it have been easier to let her die instead of forcing her into a life that was not living?

As he worked, he thought of nothing other than what he just condemned her to. He knew that Lenore and her sister, Anne, were as close as sisters come because they were all they had left. He knew that although she wasn't great with them, Lea thought her sister's children as her own.

He'd witnessed this first-hand on several occasions. He made time in his work schedule to accompany Lea to Trent's, the oldest of Anne's children, equivalent of a graduation ceremony from the fourth grade to the fifth.

He knew that he had to be the barer of terrible news and he could think of no way to say the words let alone form them. He could not say aloud that she'd passed and was killed in a car accident.

Regrettably, he left her so the nurses can clean and take care of her body and have it sent to the morgue. He knew that the nurses might raise a few eyebrows at the fact that Lea's body had bite wounds that weren't there before but he didn't care what they thought. He didn't look up from the floor and didn't speak to anyone as he walked into his office and shut the door behind him. He walked over to his desk, and without thinking, he reached for the phone but it rang before he could dial the number to make the call to his lover's family.

"Carlisle?" Edward asked on the other end of the call.

"Yeah?" He asked, his speech was slurred and his voice low.

"I heard your thoughts. Is everything all right?" His son asked with urgency.

"No, something happened. She's dead," the doctor knew Edward knew who he meant by 'She'.

"Was there time to change her?" Edward asked his father.

"I don't…I don't know. I tried, I didn't mean to…" he trailed off.

"Stay there, I'm coming to get you," Edward said as he hung up.

Carlisle stayed and did just as he was told. What else could he do? He couldn't find the willpower to pick up the phone again and call Anne. The room was silent and he heard the rain as it poured down onto the street and people below. Outside his office, the bustle of the hospital could be heard.

 _Was it always this loud?_

 _Was it always this grey?_

Only a few minutes later, his son stormed through the door and was surprised to see Carlisle sitting there with is head in his hands.

"Carlisle…" the silence broke as Edward announced his arrival.

The father continued to sit and ignored him.

"I know how you feel…" his son began.

"You don't know how it feels. Until it happens to you, you don't. You're going to say I'll be fine but what do you know about me being fine?"

"It's not fine!" He yelled and backtracked his emotions, his father did not need to be yelled at.

"It's not fine," Edward began again, "and I don't expect you to get better but, in time, you will be. She may recover and when she does, she'll need you."

"How the hell can you talk? You have Bella and Renee. You don't know. It won't be real until you see the woman you love die in your arms when you know you're a doctor and there was a possibility to save her. She died right in front of me Edward, and I was too stupid not to see her. I would have gone as fast as I could."

"I'm sure you did everything you could have."

"I don't know. There might have been something I overlooked or could have done better, I just wasn't quick enough. You should have seen her. She was broken. She wasn't my Lea when I watched the life fade from her eyes."

"Carlisle…father…" at those words, Carlisle looked at his nonbiological son but his son nonetheless. Edward walked over and reached down to touch his shoulder.

"I know you did everything you could have because I know you. When I thought I lost Bella, I was terrified. Not for the sake of her father or Renee or for anyone else but for myself. I didn't know what I was going to do without her…"

"She was pregnant…" Carlisle said cutting off Edward.

"What? Are you certain?"

"Yes, I tried to save her and noticed a smell that was not her own. Edward, she was going to have my child," Carlisle said sounding more defeated than ever.

"If she survives, what do you think will happen to it?"

Carlisle was fairly uncomfortable with Edward calling his unborn child 'it', but said nothing.

"I don't know."

* * *

It had been a few days and the house was silent with an aura of dread. Carlisle had found it within himself to call Anne and John; Lea's funeral was set for tomorrow. Anne wanted to have Lea cremated so it was easy to forage the documents, find a body and later the ashes would be spread beneath a sapling they would plant.

The doctor had not shown himself at the hospital since that day and with good reason. He sat and waited for Lea in his bedroom. She lay on the bed, under the sheet, and her hair surrounded the pillow's surface. While he waited, he read aloud to her in hopes that through her sleep, she might hear his voice and would wake from her stupor sooner. When he did not read, he sat silently looking out the window as the days turned to nights and nights into mornings. Only once did he take her cold hand in his icy grasp, leant over the bed, knelt on the floor and prayed to whatever was out there to help his love push through.

He would not leave her bedside and kept the door closed as to not disturb the sleeping beauty.

When he heard a knock at the door, he would not answer and would not move. It was mute. Several times during the day, one, if not all of his family members would try and talk to him through the barrier.

The only response would be a cold, "Get away from that door."

Alice, Rose, Jasper, everyone had seen Carlisle at his best and witnessed his worst but they had never even known that their compassionate, loving, generous father-figure could be so cold. They supposed it was normal, Lea was Carlisle's mate.

When he did open the door, it was only once because he knew that the fun-loving and carefree man behind it promised not to leave until the door was opened. Carlisle supposed he'd let himself grow lonely shutting himself off from the world.

"Carlisle, you haven't hunted in weeks," Emmett told him as he looked him over.

"Mmm," he mumbled as he stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind himself.

"You're beginning to show sighs of petrifying."

"Oh?"

"You're starting to look older, you're getting shadows under your eyes, you're moving slower."

It was true, Carlisle did not look like himself. His clothes were wrinkled as he'd not bothered to change, his hair always in its usual pushed-back style was not, his skin was starting to look even more pale and papery than before, his lips chapped and cracked. His eyes were black as if the pupil did not end and he had no iris.

He was beginning to look like a vampire.

"I don't want to leave her in case she wakes up," he told his son in a husky voice as it had run dry.

"It's been so long, are you sure she will?"

"She has to. If she'd dead, I don't want to know."

"We need to start making preparations incase…"

"Don't!" Carlisle snapped. The doctor's hunger had made him on edge and shaky.

"Maybe it wasn't meant to be…"

"Yes it was. It was just terrible timing," he said, "now, what do you want?"

"Edward and I were going out on a hunt and Rose suggested you come with us."

Carlisle had always listened to Rosalie as her wrath, if not, came down onto the entire house. If she became angry, everyone else did too and that's when things were said that be better left not.

"Suggested or commanded?"

"Is there a difference to her?" Emmett smiled, knowing he'd at least gotten Carlisle out of that room.

The thought of hunting something made Carlisle's teeth grow and he habitually brought his hand to his lips as he felt the venom pour into his mouth. He nodded his head and as soon as they gathered Edward, all three left without another word and ran off into the woods, their forms tangling within the brush.


	13. Domestic Bliss

As they ran up mountains and across streams, Carlisle was slower but then again, he always was. Edward was the fastest runner in the household, while Emmett was the strongest until Bella rivaled him simply because she was still a newborn, however, her strength would eventually decrease. Carlisle supposed he was slower because he was significantly older than the rest of his coven and took into consideration the fact that he had neglected his hunting for more than a few weeks.

Every once in a while, he would stop and walk for a few minutes. His sons would join him and show a brotherly affection toward one another, they laughed and talked while trying to get Carlisle to join in, to which he would offer nothing in return. When the trio reached their family's preferred hunting grounds, it was nearing dusk. The sun began to dip below the horizon and an overcast of clouds set in.

They each went their separate ways to hunt the animal of their choice: Edward was one for mountain lions, Emmett liked bears because of the fight they put up, but Carlisle preferred something much more simpler—deer.

He headed south while Emmett went north and Edward went west. He walked and as he searched for signs of animal life, he thought about his would-have-been newborn child and the child's mother.

For a while, he looked for signs of life and when he found nothing he began to grow impatient. A few more minutes of frantic searching, like a drug addict needing a fix, he happened upon the scent of a bear. He inhaled and it sent his vampirism into overdrive. He looked harder for the signs, he ran faster, he thought quicker, he moved with an agility that a normal human could never, though for a vampire, his hunger made him sloppy.

As quietly as he could but as quickly as he was able, he tracked the beast back to it's den. He laid a makeshift trap for it and when it took the bait, he waited a beat and jumped on it's back. He was thrown from the animal and as soon as it's footing was found, the bear charged for him. Carlisle was quicker, he jumped from one tree to the other and taunted the beast. It clawed and scratched at the trunks but to no avail. The grizzly stood on it's back paws and tried to shake the tree to have it's prize fall into it's lap.

The vampire held on to the nearby branches tighter and looked down curiously but his curiosity vanished just as quickly it had come and he jumped onto it's back. He grabbed at it's ribcage and squeezed until he heard bones crack. He bit the jugular and the bear was sent roaring into the night thrashing and trying to get the man off. Carlisle knew it was doomed and still, the man continued to fight.

When it was over, the bear landed on the ground with a thud, but the man continued to give it everything he had to kill, though it was already dead. He screamed as he continued to kick, punch, bite, throw…and all this, he did without thinking. He almost seemed to be taking sadistic pleasure in it.

"Carlisle!"

The man didn't hear anything.

"CARLISLE!" One of two boys yelled louder. Finally, the man stopped and looked to the owner of the voice.

"I think it's dead enough!" Emmett told him finally looking at the leader of the coven and head of house. He was insane, Carlisle had turned, for that brief moment, into a monster. Before Carlisle could say a word, he pounced upon the animal and took whatever blood was left in it's body. It's heart was no longer pumping so the doctor had to suck the sustenance out as opposed to letting it gush into his mouth via blood pressure. Emmett watched the man and was worried about his father-figure's mental state.

Carlisle was never one to resort to violence and his beating and ravaging made the younger vampire worried.

* * *

"Rose, I think Carlisle is taking this thing really terribly," Emmett whispered to his wife as they laid together on the couch.

"How badly do you think?"

"I don't know, but when we went out, he was hunting bears."

"Don't be absurd, Carlisle prefers deer, he doesn't like to put up a fight," Rosalie told him as she played with his hand.

"Rose, I saw him. He damn near tore the thing to shreds. He was a few miles away but I still heard it. I had to go over there and tell him to knock it off," Emmett waited a beat, "I'm worried about him."

"So am I, but there's nothing we can do. He needs to mourn."

"You don't think she'll make it?"

"Even Carlisle said there are somethings venom can't fix," Rose told her husband with a frown, "I don't want to see him hurt but it's the only way. If he doesn't take the time to mourn her..." she put that thought to the side, "I'm hoping she survives, but honestly, I don't know."

"I'm hoping she does too. It just hurts me to see Carlisle so messed up. I'm scared for him. I even thought he was going to attack me for a second…"

"Emmett," Rose said sitting up to look him in the eyes, "we're all scared but there's nothing we can do or say to him that we haven't already tried. We just have to wait and see. But if she doesn't, someone has to tell him."

"I don't think he would even listen, but with all of this…it just reminds me how much I have to let you know that I love you and tell you how much you mean to me. I don't ever want to lose you, ever, because I've seen what it did to him."

"I love you too," Rose said as she tilted his head and kissed him on the forehead. Emmett relished in the feeling and hoped that he would never lose his love too.

* * *

"Carlisle?" Alice asked, knocking on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" He answered with a question.

"Almost ready?" His daughter asked quietly.

Carlisle looked himself in the mirror and shook his head; he frowned and rubbed his hand against his cheeks.

"Yeah…"

He walked out of the bathroom door, down the two flights of stairs and into the garage. Edward, Bella, Jacob and Alice piled into one vehicle while Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Renee stepped into the other. Carlisle trudged into his car that Jasper had retrieved from the hospital after _that day_. All three cars drove in silence, one behind the other as they traveled to their destination: Lenore's funeral.

When they arrived, the Cullen's took the seats in the middle aisle, near the front. As the guests and mourners made their way to seating, a young woman walked up the the stage and when everyone was settled, she began to read Lea's life story.

"Lenore Annabelle "Lea" Fischer was born on August 20th, 1990 and went to be with the Lord at the age of twenty-five. She was born at Forks Hospital at 3:15 in the morning to her parents: Wendy Dawn Saintlier and Richard "Rich" Fischer.

"At the age of twelve years old, Lenore decided she wanted to be an actress after watching the 1939 _Academy Award_ winning period-drama, _Gone With the Wind_.

"She graduated from Forks High School in 2008 where she participated in: the Chess Club, Dramatic Theater, Battle of the Books, and was the co-captain of the volleyball team. During this time, she made numerous life-long friends, most of which, considered her a sister. She received honors during her senior year and is a notable alumni.

"She received a full scholarship to: _The New York Film Academy_. Lenore graduated from this academy with a Bachelor's degree in _Fine Acting for Dramatic Theater_. During that time, she was in several plays and musicals, most of which, she played the lead actress. This led to her doing live shows on Broadway from June 2011 until the show's season ended in September of that same year.

"With several troupes of: actors, actresses, dancers, musicians and directors, she travelled across Europe and Asia preforming for different venues," a family friend, Sarah, read the obituary in a monotone voice.

The church was quiet and one could have heard a pin drop. She stood on the stage before Lenore's friends, coworkers and what remained remained of her family. As the guests sat, before them was an urn with what was supposed to be Lenore's ashes on a finely decorated table with flowers and pictures.

They were of Lea throughout her life. In one of them, there was her mother lying in a hospital bed holding only the day old Lenore. Richard stood off to the side and Anne sat on the bed holding a bottle of white liquid and smiling a toothless grin.

 _Domestic bliss._

Another was a portrait of Lea in a graduation cap and gown standing next to Sarah in the picture. The women's gowns were not identical as Lenore wore navy blue and Sarah's was gold with a sash that indicated she was salutatorian. The backdrop for the picture was of their graduation stage with helium balloons and streamers.

There was another picture of Lea but in a costume preforming on stage provided by the company she worked for. A spot light shone a single beam and she was the only person preforming. Her mouth was open belting out some melody and her hands were raised into the air, palms up and open.

There were others, some were with Anne's children, others were not. There were friends, costars, and one was a professional portrait, something that might even go on an actress' resume. But the one picture Carlisle found himself starring at, was the only one of him and Lea together.

In that particular photo, she seemed happier than the rest. The man found himself looking at it as he followed the outline of her face and hair while the story of Lenore's life was being read to him.

In his mind's eye, he could see the child Lenore used to be and wondered what their's might have looked like. The child, whom Carlisle imagined would be a girl, would obviously have blonde hair as both parents did, her eyes would be large and dark like her mother's. She would have slightly angular features and would have her father's nose as well as his height.

He saw himself holding the child in his arms as she fussed about and in time, she would grow up, albeit much quicker than a human. She'd grow up to look like her mother but her father's features would still be recognizable.

Her name would have been Avalon, but 'Ava' for short. He'd always wanted a daughter named Ava, as that was, he believed, his mother's name but he could never be certain.

"Lenore later moved back to her hometown of Forks where she worked as a waitress until she landed several roles at the local theater. She starred or acted in: _Beauty and the Beast, The King and I, Mamma Mia!, Rent, The Phantom of the Opera_ and _The Wizard of Oz._

 _"_ It was during this time, she met Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his family to which Lenore claimed to have always been a part of.

"Lenore is preceded in death by her parents: Wendy and Richard Fischer (Anne), her grandparents: Donald and Dolly Saintlier (Margaret "Margie" (Liam, Alyssa, Gabriel)), Donald Jr. "Sonny", Ted (Brent), William "Willy", Lorena (Jenna)), her aunt, Margaret Smith and her uncles: Donald Jr. "Sonny" Saintlier and Nicolas "Nick" Fischer, her childhood friend, Summer Larkin and recently deceased costar, Peter Darling.

"Lenore is survived in death by her sister Anne and John Riley and their children: Trent, Martha, Carlie, and Wendy whom she all loves very much. Her beloved Carlisle and his children: Edward and his wife Isabella, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Renee."

While the names were read, though she was his granddaughter, the Cullen's claimed that Renee was his adopted daughter, reached for his hand, and squeezed it in reassurance.

Renee's hand felt warm on Carlisle's ice-cold skin and he took comfort in the contact. Sarah continued to read but, to Carlisle, the words were meaningless and muffled. He paid no attention and was only worried about the real Lenore at home. If she'd woken up, he did not want her to be alone.

He liked to believe she was saved but somewhere in his mind, he doubted it was so. He wanted her, but it was far more than that, it was as it he died with her but even that was easier than doing this thing he called 'living' without Lenore.

Yes, it was true, they had only known each other for more than a few months, but during that brief time, Carlisle lived more than within the three-hundred years he was alone. He knew he had; he felt older but never the wiser was he as love is irrational and dangerous. He witnessed this first hand, and now had experience in such the matter.

If love were irrational, then he was a stupid man. If love was dangerous, he felt the adrenaline. If love was deadly, he was a killer.

When Sarah finished reading, he paid no attention, when they sang melodies to send Lenore off on her journey to heaven, he mumbled the words. He looked at the urn and though he knew the ashes were not her's, it still pained him that he was the one responsible for her death.

He let the woman he loved down and it resulted in her death. He was the doctor on duty who was supposed to save her. He knew it and he felt as though everyone else did too. He felt their silent blame as the funeral attendees walked up to him, shook his icy hand, and told him how much Lea, _his Lea_ , had changed for the better when she was with him. How she seemed happier in those few months before her death. They told him that she was a different woman when he was around, that she was glowing.

Their condolences meant nothing.

 _If what they said was truth, why did she leave?_

* * *

Hey guys! Back with another update here. Sorry to have kept you guys waiting but I had to rewrite it several times until it was just near perfect.

Fun fact: Lenore is named after two poems by Edgar Allan Poe: _Lenore_ as I'm sure you all know, if you've read the very first chapter then you understand and _Annabelle Lee_ but I changed 'Lee' into 'Lea', bet you didn't see that coming! If it isn't already obvious, I love Edgar Allan Poe.

On a serious note, however, I rewrote basically all of the chapters before this one, like adding some minor details, taking unimportant ones out and fixing grammatical errors. So feel free to reread the story and hopefully the song choices will have made sense.

Another thing I should mention and give credit where it's due is this chapter is loosely based off of the songs: _Breaking Inside_ by Shinedown, _Goodbye My Lover_ by James Blunt, _She's Like the Wind_ by Patrick Swayze, and finally, _Who Knew_ by P!nk

In a later chapter, I will write a compiled playlist of the songs that I think can fit basically anywhere in any chapter as I have been listening to them constantly since I've starting writing this.

Anyway...

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	14. Burning Fire

After the funeral, the Rileys', Cullens' and close friends climbed into their cars for the rest of the memorial. They would drive several miles out of town, hike a small mountain, and plant the tree Lenore's ashes were supposed to be placed under. Behind Anne and John's car, minus their children as they believed they would not make the journey, was Edward. He drove with Bella in the passenger seat while Jasper sat in the back with Jacob. The latter need not have come, but he wanted to be there for Renee's grandfather.

Behind them was Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Renee. Rosalie drove silently but as quickly as she was allowed while Alice and Renee talked quietly amongst themselves. Bringing up the rear, was Carlisle's car.

It was a parade for the lovely Lenore.

When they reached a point where their cars could go no further, they stepped out and began on their hike. The men no longer wore slacks and ties and the woman no longer wore dresses and heels as they had gone home to change before the expedition. As they climbed, no one said a word and did not disturb the peaceful send off for this random stranger's ashes.

When they reached the top of the peak, John got out a small shovel from a preprepared orange pack he had been carrying full of water bottles, a med-kit, matches, a length of rope and a hatchet. He bent over and began to dig a shallow grave. When is was nearly one-foot across and two-feet deep, Carlisle and Anne reached in the urn and using a trowel, scooped out, bit by bit, the ashes and placed them in the hole.

Bella held a tree sapling and handed it to Anne with no words and a solemn expression. Lea's sister unwrapped the bottom of the small tree as it was living off the fruits of a brown sack with fertilizer and placed the small thing into the hole where she thought her sister now rested.

Using her hands, she pushed the gravel back into the grave to cover the roots. She patted the area, got up off her knees and looked to the group.

"I want to thank you all for being here with my family and I in this time of mourning," she began, "If it wasn't for all of you, I don't know what I would have done. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

When she finished, John walked over to his wife, took her in his arms and hugged; Carlisle watched the scene before him.

One by ones and two by twos, they began to make their way back down the mountain with Carlisle being the last to leave. He knew, _he knew_ , that those ashes were not what remained of Lenore but it didn't make it any less painful. He knew that it had been what seemed so long ago since her body was bitten and if there was even the minuscule amount of chance she would come back, she would already have, only, she didn't.

Being up on that mountain, solidified his darkest, most terrible nightmare.

 _She's gone. She's gone and she's not coming back._

Even the mere idea pained him to an extent that never seemed to end but he knew that it was so. He took one last look at the sapling and wondered if it would grow into a full tree. Perhaps, in a few hundred years, he would revisit this stranger's grave.

As he hiked back down the mountain, he walked slowly. While he drove, he was slower than usual and took his time as he thought he was perhaps giving more for Lea to heal herself so when he got to the place he called 'home', he would not have to do the deed that needed carrying out.

If anyone in the family had to do it, it was him. It was his right.

When he reached the familiar driveway, he cursed it to hell. When he stepped out of the car to walk onto the porch, he took as much time as he could. When he walked over to his bedroom, he stood outside the door for a few minutes longer. When he turned the knob, he closed his eyes and sighed, hoping beyond reason that she was no longer laying there. That the sheets would be rumpled and minus a body.

Lenore lay unmoving in the exact same position.

* * *

He wore a pair of black sweatpants and a grey hoodie that zipped in the front. He hadn't given it much thought to how he looked because he really didn't care. Alice confiscated Carlisle's clothes he was wearing earlier after insisting upon them being washed.

He looked out the window as he sat on his computer desk's chair. Still he waited and waited and waited, trying to buy as much time as he could, but with all of the time spent, was demoralizing. Every second told him she was less likely heal, every minute told him it was true, every hour reminded him how short a single day really was as several had already passed since the funeral. Every second, he hoped she would wake and rid him of this terrible nightmare.

It was nearing a week and a half since the day Carlisle watched her die. He replayed every second of it over until he found something wrong but there never was anything inherently wrong. Perhaps the only thing was timing, both on his part and Lea's. If they met a few hundred years into the future, then it wouldn't have mattered how banged up the crash had made her, futuristic medical equipment might have had a better chance to save her.

These thoughts led him to thinking a futuristic version of himself would visit the present him and help himself on in the task of saving Lenore. The mere idea of it however, was too far fetched to be reality. Besides, it would create a paradox, if the two were successful, then the future version would have had no reason to come back in the first place. So when he realized this, he put that idiotic hope out of his mind and focused on Lea.

He replayed the lifetime of memories they created together and for a while, it felt as though she was still with him.

In Lea's apartment, that still needed to be cleaned out, they danced and held each other close. The couple liked to dance together, for without it, since he had refused her, it was the only thing they were able to do in an effort to share an intimate moment.

Sometimes, the music was slow and all they did was shift their feet as the doctor held the woman by her hips and the small of her back, while Lenore's hands were on his shoulders threaded underneath his arms. He inhaled her and could distinguish the smell of her perfume from her actual scent. Her hair smelled of the shampoo she used with traces of vanilla.

Lea's skin would be covered in freckled, goose flesh from the temperature of her dance partner's body and he would feel her heat as it warmed his marble skin.

When Lenore had a cleaning day on the weekends, she played her music on a speaker and if Carlisle was there, he would place gentle hands on her shoulders while she did the dishes. With wet, soapy hands, they would dance in the kitchen. Lenore loved the spontaneity of it all and Carlisle liked the way she never refused him.

But then, his train of thought would coming crashing down and he thought of the bad memories too. The couple was not perfect as they both had their downfalls and shortcomings. He thought about arguments they had, but he never raised his voice to her. He knew what they were about and, at the time, it seemed like something important. Now, it was elementary, it was superficial. But apparently, they were so important that they impregnated the doctor's brain like a worm in the hour of his brightest memories.

* * *

"She's dead, isn't she?"

"Yes, her injuries were far too severe," Rose told the man with a blatant disregard for his emotions. Carlisle needed to hear it. He put his head in his hands and ran his fingers through his hair.

"She's gone? She's not coming back?"

"Yes."

"What am I going to do?" He asked his daughter. Rose looked at him and he looked defeated. She knew about love, only because she craved it with every individual atom that made the woman whom people called "Rosalie", but never did she know what it was like to have felt it and let it slip through the cracks of her fingers as she tried her hardest to catch every grain.

"Give her closure, give her a proper burial."

"I want her cremated and buried like her sister wanted."

"Okay."

As Rosalie walked away, she called for Emmett to gather every one and tell them the news. Carlisle's children and granddaughter put together a makeshift shrine of trees and willows in which to place their father's love onto. Jasper chopped down the tree, Emmett carried it into the backyard as Bella and Renee placed flowers in the willows that Edward had cut for a bonfire-type border.

After asking Carlisle to step out of his bedroom, Alice cleaned Lenore's body and chose an outfit for the woman to be cremated in: a white dress that ended at the ankle and the sleeves ended at the wrists to conceal her father's bite marks. The only mark that still showed, however, was the one on her neck.

The women of the house fixed Lea's hair in a wavy downpour and did her make-up. As she was still dying, Carlisle's venom had returned her to her natural state of beauty, though they believed her bones were still broken so they tried to be as careful as possible.

When all was done, Carlisle was allowed back into his sanctuary and left alone with the woman he loved for just a few moments longer. He looked down at her, and she looked like she was sleeping though her chest did not breathe softly like he'd grown so used to when he watched her sleep.

"Stop it, just stop it now," he told her.

"Stop this, just give me the one miracle that I've been praying for: just wake up…" he looked away and out toward the window facing the backyard. He saw his family as they finished in the task of closure, not for them, but for him and _his Lea._ He noticed they did not speak to one another, they did not look at each other, they just continued on in what they were doing.

Carlisle turned back to look at the woman on the bed.

"I miss you, my angel from my terrible dream. You know, I keep thinking that I am dreaming and I'll wake up and that you'll be at my side again. That your voice will tell me reason cannot be true and that I should never listen to it, that the voice inside my head which tells me you are gone, is lying…

"I have these thought so often I think that I am going mad. I love you and everything that you are but I hate you for leaving me alone, here, in this place that seems so unfamiliar. I'm looking around in _my_ bedroom and these things are _mine_ : this desk is _mine_ , this floor is one I've walked a hundred times over, but they seem like they belong to someone else. Everything looks somehow off and no matter how many times I move it to make it look the same, it doesn't. I'm not talking about the redecoration we did that weekend, but certain things just look different. These things used to serve a purpose: to remind me that I'm home, but this doesn't feel like one.

"Call me a child, call me whatever you wish, I don't care but it just feels off, like this place is no longer the place my children decided was home, perhaps once, but not anymore…"

He missed her. That's all it was, he kept waiting for her to walk through his front door, he kept waiting for a call…but they never came. He waited and waited even though he knew that the woman whom he waited upon was just a few feet away, but she'd gone elsewhere.

"I was the king of this castle, the leader of this coven until you came and I hate you for it. My life was perfect, and you came and screwed me over completely…I suppose I was just too stupid to see how cold you really are. Perhaps I was just too stupid to even try to save you. I remember when you were here and I was with you…every moment seemed perfect.

"You _promised_ to be here. Alice said that you were going to be with us for a long time, where you lying to her too?"

He waited a beat and heard the words he just said and regretted it.

"I'm sorry…I am really, terribly sorry. If I can take it back, will you let me? I didn't mean it, let me make it up to you. You claimed to have always been apart of this family and you always were, so here…"

Carlisle took off the ring he wore that was engraved with his coven's sigil and placed it on her left ring finger.

"It's a physical sign that shows we are a coven but also much more: a family. It also represents our loyalty to one another. Each part of this crest depicts a different aspect that we, as Cullen's, believe in firmly: strength, ferocity, sincerity, faith and...forever.

"My Lenore…my Lenore Annabelle Cullen. I love you, but I'm sorry, my love couldn't save you. I'm sorry it wasn't enough."

As gently as he could, the doctor picked her up from the bed and made his way carrying her out into the backyard. He prayed beyond everything, without ceasing, without finding the will to stop, that she might just wake up in that moment, but his prayer went unanswered.

When all was done and he could think of no more words, Carlisle carried her out onto the platform in the backyard and looked at his love, his dream, his illusion and she was far more beautiful the he'd ever seen. Nothing in the life he lived held a candle to her. He reached out for her hand and felt the lifelessness within. He felt the cold, golden ring as it lay on her finger. He knelt before her and kissed it, along with her forehead and finally, for the last time, on her lips dyed red from lipstick and blood.

He looked out to his family as they stood by watching the scene before them and realized neither of them would know what to do if their mate had passed.

"I just wanted to thank you all, thank you for being with me in the darkest hour of my existence. I know I've been difficult for the past few weeks, not eating, not talking…but thank you for standing by me nonetheless. I know that you have all been worrying about my mental state since that day, I'll admit, so have I. I know I won't be the same after this and I hope that you all will understand, or try to at least, that this has affected me far more than anything I can name, more than changing any of you, even when I, myself, changed.

"I am broken, I am not ashamed to admit that this woman," he looked down at her one last time, "Lea, _my Lea_ , has left me far worse than when she found me, but I suppose that just means that I did love her and still do. With that in mind, I implore you to spend as long as possible with your loved ones because you don't know when it all will end. You will always feel pain, heartbreak, loss…but you don't have to fear it. I know that now.

"Though I am broken, she has made me stronger than I ever was before and it took her death to realize that as fact. Thank you, and I love you," he said to no one in particular, not the woman, and not his children or his grandchild.

He picked up a stick from the grave and with the assistance of a nearby oil can and a lighter he acquired some time ago, he held the torch at an arm's length and got to setting the shrine on fire.

* * *

 _"_ _My name is Lenore Annabelle Fischer. I was born on August 20th, 1990. My parents are named…they're named…uh…they're named…"_

She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember the one thing she continued to say to herself over and over like the lines of a script. It was driving her near insanity.

 _"_ _I have an older sister named…Anna? Annie? Who has, was it three or four kids? Wendy, Trent…and…Jasper?"_

She sat in a little room on the tiled floor, void any type of furniture. She was cold for she sat there in nothing to cover her naked-self and she heard that voice again.

It was calming like a lover on a Sunday afternoon, but it sounded in distress.

"…one miracle that I've been praying for: just wake up…"

She picked her head up from her arms where she sat in a fetal position. Her legs were pulled close as she tried to make herself as small as physically possible.

 _"_ _But I am awake, aren't I?"_ She asked.

 _"Hello?"_ She called out, the only other noise was that of her own as it echoed off of the walls.

 _"_ _Is there anybody there?"_ She asked though got no reply.

"You know, I keep thinking that I'm dreaming and I'll wake up and you'll be at my side again…"

 _"…_ _wake up…wake up…am I dreaming? Am I dead? What does it mean to be dreaming? What is 'dreaming'? What is 'dead'?"_

She looked around and realized she didn't like the place she was in. When suddenly, on one of the four walls of the square room, there appeared a door that wasn't there before. With weak knees, she picked herself up and winced in pain as she had not moved in what seemed like years. She reached for the door's knob, again, she heard that voice.

"I hate you for leaving me…" the room spoke and the wave of the whisper faded out again.

 _"_ _Why do you hate me? What did I do wrong? Why did I leave? Where did I go?"_ She asked as she replaced her hand back at her side.

"I love you, but I'm sorry my love couldn't save you…"

 _"_ _But I'm not…I'm not…"_ she tried as stinging tears began to well in her eyes and roll onto her cheeks. She tried her hardest to remember her train of thought but a burning sensation was blocking any of them from being made. She felt the room as the cold dissipated and was replaced by heat.

 _"_ _Who are you?"_ She yelled. She leaned against the wall once again and slid to the floor. She began to rock herself back and fourth.

 _"_ _Who am I? I don't remember…I don't know who I am."_

The air around her became warmer. It became harder the breathe, it was too hot and she felt herself burning. Her skin was one thing, but her throat felt like someone had stuck a branding iron down her mouth. She felt herself inhaling but not breathing. She looked around and everything seemed slower.

She stood to give herself a fighting chance even though she didn't know what for and reached for the knob of the door once again and was enveloped into a white light. All of her memories played at once, from the time spent in her mother's womb, to her dying breath on the hospital's gurney and then the memories faded into nothing. They were gone and every face she'd seen play a role in her life, became a stranger.

Through the burning fire, Carlisle watched as the body in which was being burned, sat up from the bed…


	15. From The Ashes

"Lea!" Carlisle yelled as he watched the woman rise from the ashes. He ran faster than ever in his existence as a vampire and into the fire that encompassed her. The woman screamed in pain and found she could not move as the flames had seemed to somehow take her ability to twitch even a finger.

Carlisle drove in without even a single thought to his own mortal immortality. He scooped the woman up by the backs of her legs and neck. Just as quickly as he was in the fire, he was back out. When the two were a safe distance away, he set her down and his hands patted at the dress lit aflame.

"Lenore?" He asked when all of the small fires were out. The woman only answered with a dumbfounded look.

"Lenore?" He asked again as he rubbed his hands, they were burnt but would heal in due time. She looked at him when she realized he was talking to her and her brows furrowed.

"W…who are you?" She asked as she tried to speak for her throat was raspy and dry.

"What? Who am I? You know who I am. It's…it's me," he frowned. Carlisle didn't think he heard the words correctly.

"Who are you?" The woman asked again and with more urgency.

"Who am I? I don't know…" she said growing terrified and frustrated. She looked around at the unfamiliar faces. No one said a word but their eyes told her they were surprised. She looked again at the man who stood before her and his face dropped as he added all of the elements together as to why she would not remember him.

She looked at the fire as it still burned and the flames danced before her eyes. It seemed brighter than what she might have been used to if only she knew what it used to be. She heard the fire as it cracked and popped sending burning ashes into the air. They sprinkled into the sky before her like a thousand stars. The smoke curled around her as she smelled it on her clothing and when she took a deeper inhale, she could smell the scent of the man that just saved her life—or tried to end it.

Mixed in with the smell of smoke emanating off of him, she should distinguish the scent as earthy: unkept grass and trees; the sap from such trees bled in an attempt to heal themselves. She inhaled even deeper and smelled everyone else in the immediate vicinity as well: old wood, dust, flowers and pollen, all of which were smells that came naturally from the Earth. Then, she smelled something that seemed much more pleasing than any of them: blood.

Lenore's movements were animated as her head twitched and blinked a few times but faster than she meant. She ran her tongue over her teeth as they grew a significant amount and her venom poured in. Her throat burned even more and she felt empty inside…hungry.

She again looked back at the people who had just tried to burn her. Without a word, she ran off into the woods so fast they barely were able to see her disembodiment leaving everyone else stunned. The clan looked to Carlisle for a second and he looked back. It was then they realized the newborn vampire was a threat and they ran after her.

Just like that, Lenore Fischer was just outside of Carlisle's grasp again.

She was gone. Her body moved faster than her mind and her running felt natural like she'd always been doing it. She looked around and the world seemed slow as she ran. She saw the wingbeat of a butterfly out for a midnight snack, the rustle of the trees as the wind blew and a nearby waterfall as the drops hit the surface of water in reality within the fraction of a second, but to her, time was slowed. She didn't know where she was going to but she couldn't be near the people that had just tried to kill her in what seemed like a sacrificial ritual for some cult.

The appetizing smell of blood, however, was the only thing to keep her feet continuously moving.

She inhaled as she got closer and closer, her chest heaved and shook. Her hands went shaky and she lifted her head for a better track. She ran in the border of the tree line and La Push beach. When she smelled the smoke of a fire, she made a beeline to intersect it. She stopped a little less than a hundred feet away and walked quietly toward a beach party of teenagers. She could smell the scent of booze and lit cigarettes. She could hear the laughter emanating from them as if they were next to her.

Lenore emerged from the trees and found what she was looking for. Her hunger became immense and it drove her insane. There were five girls and three boys, all of which nursed bottles of beer and three with marlboro cigarettes. The party stopped in their banter as soon as they saw the woman in white who looked like a phantom bride. She stared at them with an evil look in her blazing red eyes and hunger in her body. She ran up to them as her vampirism made her faster then her time spent as a human and with untrained skill, she broke one boy's neck and tilted it. When she did, the muffled pops sent the other teens into a panic. She bit, sucked and drank the blood within his body. Behind the metallic taste, she could distinguish the alcohol.

The other teens ran off but were no match for the hungry, newborn vampire. Not a single moral thought went through her head as she killed the innocents and drank their blood to sustain herself. Lenore went after and hunted to kill each and every teen. She gave no thought to clean up after herself and left the bodies there to be found by an unfortunate passerby.

She left the way she had come, in a run and not knowing where she was headed, though the body count under her was now at eight humans.

Crimson soaked and still starving, she ran off into the misty night in search of more blood. She had yet to have her fill because when she killed the party goers, she was messy. She knew that the cult of people were likely after her but little did she know that a far greater threat was now alerted of her change from a human into a vampire…

* * *

He made a nightly ritual when she was with him. He bushed his teeth, brushed his hair and it would no longer be pushed back, instead, it parted to the left and curled inward toward his head. He wore clothes that were more comfortable: a pair of lounge pants or boxers and went shirtless.

When he climbed into the bed, Lea would be there waiting for her goodnight kisses. He would kiss her on the lips and trail them from there to her cheek and lastly on her forehead. It would seem the two were addicted to kissing each other, though every time he did, his teeth grew in anticipation and begged to be dealt with but never did he give into these urges.

The heat from her body would send a shiver down the frozen skin of his back. She would giggle like a schoolgirl and pull him closer for she craved the contact he provided. Afterward, they would lay face to face in the darkness with their legs tangled together, hands on one another's hips or arms or even playing with each other's hair. The only light provided would come from beneath the bedroom door as his children occasionally walked up and down the hallway as they did not require sleep like Lenore.

Since his eyes were sensitive to light and dark, he could see her eyes as they sparkled accompanied by long lashes. He could see the natural upward curve of her lips and the apples of her blushed cheeks. He could see every individual strand of hair as it fell into her face and would commit it to memory as he pushed it back.

They would whisper to each other about random things that went through their heads.

 _"_ _You know,"_ she began, _"sometimes, I feel like I'm still to young to be sitting in the passenger seat of a car_. _"_

 _"_ _Oh?"_

" _Yeah, I was thinking about it when we were coming back from grocery shopping. Sometimes, I don't feel old or big enough_. _"_

Then, after a few hours, she would grow tired as her human physiology required sleep. She would curl up next to him beneath the covers and fall asleep next to the man she loved holding her.

His animated breathing would comfort her through the blackness and the couple would feel at peace with the world. If they wished though it could never be so, they would lay like that, together, for the rest of eternity and be perfectly fine with that.

But that night, he'd gone out to look for her. He'd spent almost two weeks searching without rest but to no avail. He looked and retraced his steps thinking he'd missed a direction but the woman to whom the bed belonged, was not there, not anywhere. The only clue that was left, came from a beach party turned into a bloodbath, from there, the trail went cold.

He looked and some part of him hoped she'd gone back to the place it all began, the first place she remembered in this life, but he doubted it could be so. He knew from experience that her memory might be unclear and she would not even recognize his face if she were to see him again.

She was not there to curl up next to him in bed. He could not place his lips on her's, he could not speak in hushed tones just to hear her voice. But even still, after Alice had forced him home and told him Edward and Rosalie would go and search for clues, he proceeded in his ritual before bed and walked out of the ensuite bathroom to find that his love was not there.

He climbed into the bed he bought for her, the absent woman, grabbed a pillow from her side, and pulled it closer to his chest and pretended it was her, though the poor substitute could never compare. All night, he wished for the kisses as she told him stories of her past no matter how recent.

 _"_ _Okay, so it was after Trent's graduation. I saw you talking to Anne and she was blushing red as all mighty hell_ , _"_ she giggled.

 _"_ _I was telling her the story about when I first moved here and started work at the hospital. It was the same one I told you, you know about Dr. Gerandy?"_

 _"_ _Yeah?"_ She challenged.

 _"_ _Well,"_ she continued, _"be careful. I think my sister likes you."_

 _"_ _I like her too, she's sweet."_

 _"_ _Carlisle, I meant 'like-like'."_

 _"_ _But, she's married and has kids."_

 _"_ _It's never stopped anyone before_. _"_

 _"_ _I don't think you need to worry about it."_

 _"_ _Why?"_ She asked, her curiosity piqued.

 _"_ _Because she's not the Fischer woman that I quote, 'like-like',"_ he smiled in the darkness.

At those words, Lea's heart filled with joy not that she was worried anything would happen between him and her sister but of the words he spoke with absolute honesty. It pounded out of her chest and did not go unnoticed by the vampire. She pulled him closer through he was close as could be and planted her lips on his. After, she laid in the crook of his arm with her head on his chest and shoulder. Her leg curled around his as her fingers traced the thin outline of his stomach muscle and naval. His hand rested on her hip with the other placed behind his head as his pillow had deformed.

All night long until well after morning, he longed for her warm touch on his ice-cold skin though he knew her skin would no longer be warm. Carlisle and Lenore would be the same temperature.

* * *

What was left of the woman known as Lenore, sometimes caught glimpses of her past life. She'd see a little baby dressed in a blue onesie laying in a crib staring up at her though she knew not who the child was and it's face was unfamiliar. She'd see a Mack truck as she watched it come straight for her. She saw a pale, blonde man with eyes the color of honey but she knew not of his name or the rest of his features.

Then, as quickly as the thoughts came, they would vanish like a drop on a lake surrounded by morning mist and dew. It was infuriating.

The only thing she knew was apparently her name was Lenore. She was told as much by a man who's face she could not remember. She was a woman but she was much more—she was a vampire. She was stronger than men twice her size, she was faster than cars that went a speed of ninety miles an hour, she could jump off of objects and skyscrapers and have no injury to herself. She knew she was not easily killed.

She had given into her natural urges of hunger for human blood and she traveled across the North American continent, from Washington, she made her way north toward Canada. If she found herself to be without her natural food source, she hunted animals, however, these never felt like enough. They did not completely satisfy her hunger and it served to make her angry. It kept her moving but did not give her what she desperately craved.

She was going through sentients, a state of being but not absolutely complete. She felt her body and it somehow seemed off, like the kilter of her inner core shifted and nothing, not even having enough blood, could change it and that is how she lived or as close as she could.

More often than not, she would feel a terrible, dreadful pain in her body that radiated from her midsection. She would stop whatever she was doing and scream out in agony. A few minutes later, the pain would subside but her hunger would grow a thousandfold.

 _Am I supposed to feel like this? Why does it hurt so bad?_

She took so many lives she lost count near thirty not counting animals. Her eyes were red as the blood in which she feasted and was forced to buy artificial contacts from a wallet she'd taken from someone she'd murdered. During the day, she hid in random places: junkyards and back alleys. Places no one was likely to go and at night, she indulged herself. She went to clubs and bars to pick her meal of the evening and when they were taken to the street, she would lure them down a dark alley or the back of a nightclub and feast on what they had to offer. She was careful, she disposed of the bodies accordingly and cleaned up afterwards but all of her careful hunting was for nothing when a newborn vampire in North America caught the attention of the Volturi.

* * *

Okay, yes. I know, this update has taken way too long especially after that cliffhanger but this is not the original plan I had for the story so I've had to reread it several times over just to make sure there were no loose ends of the scrapped storyline. See!? I do listen, a guest reviewer told me to wake Lea up and I did. You know who you are! :P

I hope I'm doing the Cullens justice and tell me what you think! Yes, before you ask, the Volturi is now involved and perhaps the werewolves will be too, I'm still not sure yet. I'm basically making this story up as I go along...then again, I always have been. If I think it's good then I'll try my damn hardest to fit it in even if I have to force the pieces together.

Leave a review and if there's anything you want to see happen, like I said, if it fits, I sits. ;P

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	16. The Volturi

Lenore stood at the bar with her back to the tender and watched the people as they danced in more of an orgy pile instead of a dance floor. She found it comforting as she watched them move to the music that blasted on all four corners of the club. It was intriguing, what's more is it made her excited and in more ways than one. She liked the idea of the people and took sadistic pleasure in watching them move. Lea imagined killing each and every one of them in different ways. It was a mixture of borderline nymphomania and bloodlust.

She kept eyeing a man that had caught her attention a little less than an hour ago. He had black, curled hair and, she noticed, he kept looking at her as well. But, the vampire made no move to in an attempt at conversation, instead, she continued to pretend sipping the drink she'd bought using stolen money from one of her numerous victims.

She looked away and turned her attention back to the light coming from the table of the bar. She heard the man walk up behind her and stand so close Lea could smell his scent from the sex and alcohol. He wasn't pleasing but he would suffice.

"Hey, what are you drinking?"

She wasn't drinking the liquid but instead ordered it to appear somewhat normal though with the way she acted around these humans, she was anything but.

"Double vodka cranberry," she answered turning around and looking up at the man. She batted her eyelashes as the man signaled the bartender to order them both the same drink. When they arrived, she only held it to her lips to animate her sipping.

"What's your name?" He asked after gulping down his drink and the burn from the alcohol subsided.

"I don't answer questions like that," she told him flatly, "if your just looking for someone to take home tonight, I suggest we get a move on," Lenore was tired of waiting and getting quickly bored of the club as she never liked to stay in one place for more than a few hours.

It was a fact that she found killing someone easier when she didn't know their name. If she didn't, they were just another face in a cesspool of nobodies. She didn't want to know if her victim had a family and friends because, even though it stopped beating, she still had what remained of a shattered heart.

The man was taken aback by her sudden insinuation and for a brief second backtracked the conversation.

"Are we leaving?" Lea asked rather eagerly. Since the two had began talking, she noticed the man's heartbeat was uneven and quick and her teeth grew in suspense. His hands were becoming sweaty and his self-righteous facade was beginning to falter.

 _He's too easy, the game isn't fun when their too easy. Maybe he's just desperate for a woman's touch. Scumbag…_ she thought.

She liked a person that put up more of a fight, the ones that played hard to get be it a man or woman. She didn't care which as she soon found that she liked both just the same. When they resisted her advances and eventually cracked, it made killing them all the more satisfying.

"Uh…do you want to?" He asked.

"Let's get going," she told the man as he paid for their drinks and made their way leaving together. Her steps went to the beat of the music that blasted from all around her making the floor rumble and her insides vibrate. They pushed their way through the crowd of grinding bodies and people more than likely screwing each other with their clothes still on.

He led her outside into the cold night. Their breath crystallized as they walked underneath a streetlamp where she stopped forcing him to stop as well. She kissed him with a force that surprised the man. When his found his grounding, his hands roamed around her body and reached around to her back. She broke the kiss and smiled seductively knowing she had him. She grabbed his hand from behind her and led him behind the club.

"Hey! Where are we…" he began when she cut him off.

"Shh…" she said bringing her index finger to her lips. She was on the prowl and, little did the man know, he was going to fall victim to this woman.

Her eyes went black in anticipation and he caught sight of her mouth exposing teeth that were razor sharp and pointed like a dozen arrowheads.

"What the…" he began when she forced him against the wall and pushed him so hard she heard his bones crack. He hit his head and fell to the pavement lined with garbage and puddles of murky water. He reached up to his now bleeding temple and looked at his fingers darkened with blood.

She watched him and inhaled.

"It excites me every time…" she told him watching him and the horror on his face, in his eyes. The man began to pick himself up but his vision became foggy and his head spun either from the alcohol or having just received a concussion but more than likely both.

"I didn't say you could leave," she said as she pushed him back to the ground. She felt alive but at the same time nothing, not even the slightest hint of human decency, then again, did she have to feel it? She wasn't human, she thought herself to be better, greater. With that, she became the very thing that the man she didn't remember who loved her hated: a monster.

She knelt on the concrete next to him and licked the blood that began rolling down the side of his face. Without another word or even a look, she forced his head away and bit in the most crucial spot that sustained her own form of living but took his. He let out a scream in pain and terror but she put her hand over his mouth to muffle the one-sided struggle.

When she finished, his eyes rolled in the back of his head and after rummaging his pockets, taking his valuables and his wallet, she threw his body in a nearby dumpster like yesterday's garbage. She walked away after setting it on fire and didn't bother to look back.

She never looked back.

She was almost to another bar when she saw three hooded figures walking toward her, only they didn't walk. They glided in the mist underneath the moon and what stars she could see though the lights from the city.

* * *

"Carlisle, you have to find a better way of dealing with this," Bella told him as she sat on the bed next to her father-in-law.

"Tell me," he began, "what did you do when we left?" He asked, not looking at her but at the grain and woodwork of a dresser.

"It…" she tried

"I know you don't like talking about it."

"It was hard," she began again, "you know when people say they know how you feel but they have no clue? Well, take it from me, I know how you feel. There's a gaping hole in your chest and absolutely nothing can fill it. I know what it feels like, only I didn't have anyone. Yes, I had Charlie but he had no idea. He tried his hardest to bare that burden but it was never his to take. It was mine.

"When you all left, I began to wonder if any of you even existed. I don't think I've ever told anyone this, especially Edward, but one day, I drove by just to see if this house was even here. My mind had begun to wonder if I just created this perfect man out of my own loneliness.

"If my eyes couldn't believe anything, the only that was real was the pain. I knew that I wasn't crazy but it sure felt like it. Every night I'd wake up screaming and I was really starting to scare Charlie. Every night, he'd have to go into my room and wake me up, but then, he'd gotten so used to it, he just stopped.

"I was only going through the motions of living: eating, sleeping, going to school…but it was only that. I'd become a shell of who I used to be. I've been where you are and I want to help you in anyway that I can, we all do."

While she spoke, Carlisle looked at her and wondered how Edward could have ever let her go even if it was just for a little while. How could he let her go through so much pain only to step back into her life? If she had no one, he wondered how broken she truly was. He at least had the perfect memory of Lenore and at least he had Bella, someone who knew what it was like to be in his shoes, someone who knew what it was like to be as broken as he is.

* * *

"Who are you?"

"Pain," the woman said letting the previous question go unanswered. Lenore fell to the ground and let out and excruciating, banshee-like scream. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. All she could do was feel the pain and it became so unbearable that she could no longer even make a noise.

It felt like her body was on fire and she knew the feeling well, somehow, she knew.

When the hooded figure let up, Lenore stayed laying down. She knew if anymore questions were asked then she would have to relive that unexplainable torture again and she knew she would never be able to handle it. Instead, she found herself to be drug off by these vampires, she knew they were not human. How else would she feel what she just did?

She dazed in and out. Her normally crystal clear vision became foggy and her head swam away from her. She didn't know where she was, the only thing she knew was that she was in the trunk of a car as she could hear the deep rumble of the engine and was being taken somewhere she knew not.

She didn't know how long she spent in that trunk but what seemed like hours was only mere minutes. She looked around the dark, casket-like enclosure and through the blackness she could make out the fabric that felt like carpeting throughout.

When the car stopped, the engine cut out and the trunk opened revealing a blonde haired woman not unlike Lenore. Her eyes were a blazing red and one could assume the two woman were sisters. Both were pale, both shared nearly the same height though Lenore was taller, their eyes burned red and their hair was the color of the sun they were never allowed to witness.

She had a smile plastered on her porcelain skin as if she were enjoying ever minute of this kidnapping.

"Hello, again."

"Who are you?" Lenore prompted still lying in the trunk.

"No time for that now. Best not keep Aro waiting."

"Who?"

"You'll find out and he is not happy with you at all."

"Alec? Is everything prepared?" The young woman asked though one could barely call her a woman in the slightest. She was fairly young as her appearance gave off somewhere between eleven and fourteen.

A boy who was standing behind her answered with a quiet nod.

"Good. Brother, do you think Aro will have her killed?" The girl asked in an attempt at putting the woman through a bout of anxiety.

"I don't know sister. We shall wait and see," he said his voice was high-pitched but sharp as a razor.

Lenore picked herself up from the trunk and they walked over to a plane that sat waiting for them in a hangar. They walked in as the door hatch was already open. They took off and few over the Pacific Ocean. No one said a word and Lenore knew every single person there was a vampire be it from their eyes or from the scent each one gave off.

They sat in silence, the girl sat across from Lea who looked out the window as the light from the moon glistened against the black water like a billion stars in a cluster. The girl stared at this woman and wondered how best to use her skills at putting others though grief and misery.

Before she could however, Lenore spoke first, "Now that we have time, can you tell me where the hell I'm going?"

"You have made yourself a spectacle," she told her in a cold voice, "Humans may have started to wonder who was killing and setting the bodies on fire."

"But where am I going?"

"The Volturi is not pleased with you and we have been sent to bring you before the masters for a trial."

There was no hope that someone would come to Lenore's defense, she didn't know anyone and would have continued on in that way unless she grew lonely and joined a coven or decided to create her own.

"What are you, the police? I haven't done anything wrong."

"We will see," the girl replied coldly, obviously not caring one way or the other as to whether or not this newborn would win or lose her trial.

When they reached their destination, the plane landed and taxied into another hangar but larger that the one in America. The passengers stepped out accompanied by the pilot and first officer. The group climbed into a single car that awaited them and drove in an eerie silence.

 _I haven't done anything wrong, have I?_

It was no longer night and day was bleak and cloudy but the windows were tinted anyway to avoid the wandering eyes from other drivers and passersby. The road's curves were thick with cars and pedestrians. Lea looked out the window and, if she could have, her breathing would have hitched at the spectacle they stopped at.

The building itself was grand but when she walked in, it was even more magnificent. The ceilings themselves were higher than three stories and were painted with scenes from the Bible not unlike the Sistine Chappel. The borders of these paintings were lined with gold frames that ran into the corners of the walls and down to the floor where it was met with hand-carved wooden baseboards.

As they walked, the heels from their shoes clicked and echoed throughout. They traveled up in an elevator and when the doors opened, they found a receptionist at a desk. She was human as Lenore could smell her blood and it was appetizing. It took all of her will not to jump across the room and take what the woman had.

 _But a human in a coven of vampires?_

The group continued to walk on their way, the receptionist not paying them any mind.

They reached a door and the man who was, so much as Lenore understood, not the girl's brother, opened it with a heave. It was heavy and just barely touched the ceiling. They walked in with the girl and her brother in the lead, Lenore in tow and three others behind her after the third closed the door behind them with a creak, the knob hitching and locking behind them.

"My dear Jane," a voice indicated to the girl, "have you brought it?" Lea heard someone ask in a featherlike tone of voice. The girl simply nodded in assurance.

"Good, now when we are finished, fetch yourselves something to eat my children," the voice said. When the brother and sister separated to reveal Lenore, the man stepped down from the pedestal he sat upon.

He looked at the woman before him and found her intriguing. He supposed she was a pretty thing, even more so than his own wife, Sulpicia. But the woman before him was young, though that fact did not necessarily make her naive. She watched him with a look as if she'd seen him before but could not place it. He took in her scent and found it most unusual, it was a mixture of several things: pollen, grass, the smell of a forest dying in the bleak, autumn winds of October and something metallic. It was enticing and frustrating as he could do nothing to soften a sudden urge.

She looked at him and he had a subtle glare in his eyes. His dark hair was long and reached just past his shoulders. His face was small and his body short. His eyes were huge as they took over most of his face setting it off kilter. They were tainted red and his skin and lips were pale and papery looking.

One either side of him in the background were two others sitting on thrones but were less grand than that of the one in the middle. One man sat straight in his rule with both hands clenching the armrests and the other looked on with disinterest.

 _Why are they familiar? Haven't I seen them before?_

Before that thought could continue, Lenore was forced down on her knees by the three men that stood behind her. One arm was held and the other was left at her side. The vampire, who was clearly the spokesman for this coven, walked over with grace, took his hands in her's and read her past life like a book.

He relived some of her most intimate moments but was careful as he did not want those past memories to resurface. It would seem that this newborn had somehow managed to lock them away. They would fade in due time and he was intent on letting that happen.

"Such sadness, such despair," the man lied.

"She will not die today for she may be of great use to us in the future," he said leaning his weight back on one foot to address the other immortals in the room.

"She had broken the laws he have abided by for centuries," one of the men sitting, spat.

"Agreed brother," he turned back to look at the blonde male with a quick glare, "but we must learn to forgive as this will not happen again…on either party," he added, "her's and our's. She is, after all, a newborn with no creator to teach of our ways."

"We've killed them before."

"A change in ways brother mine—a change in ways," the man said as he eyed the woman at his feet. When he was finished reading over her life, she was held by two guards on either side so tight she felt her arms pulling apart at the shoulder and another guard behind her waiting for a single word, a look, that didn't come.

"Jane?" He singsonged.

"Master?" She asked waiting for an order while eyeing the woman on her knees.

"Would you show our guest to her chambers?"

"Yes, master," she answered as the guards let her go and Lenore picked herself off of the stone floor.

When the three leaders of the most powerful coven in the world were left alone in the throne room, the man replaced himself back in his seat and was the first to break the silence that fell with the last click of a heeled shoe and the closing of a large door.

"As fate would have it, it would seem that she is our dear 'brother' Carlisle's mate," he told the other two as he spat the name that had disgraced them and the empire they built.


	17. Carlisle's Ring

As they sat around a large, circular table, they drank blood from silver goblets. Aro was at the head, Caius and Marcus were on either side of him, followed by Sulpicia who was Aro's mate, Athendora whom was Caius's wife, and then Chelsea whose gift of relationship manipulation forced others to have emotional bindings to the coven making them loyal. These were followed by the members that comprised the Volturi guard: Jane and her twin bother Alec, Corin, with her power of addictive contentment was assigned to keep the leaders' wives company while locked away in their tower like prisoners for their own safety. Demetri, the tracker, Felix and Santiago, both of which were physically the strongest vampires in the coven, Heidi who used her powers of physical attraction to lure humans, Renata, Aro's personal bodyguard, then Afton and the rest were not worth naming. They descended in rank to make up the lowers of the hierarchy.

"Brothers, sisters," Aro spoke aloud, his voice echoing off the walls.

"It would seem that the woman who has recently been turned, is out 'friend' Carlisle Cullen's mate. In his idiotic endeavor to change her, it would also seem that he has lost her. If he tries to oppose us and our authority again, we now have leverage to wage against him though the woman does not remember him. However, that is not the only reason I ordered she not be killed, she is a prize herself offered on a silver platter. She was pregnant when she was turned and I need not assume the offspring to be Carlisle's.

"So, in light of that fortunate circumstance, whatever it is that now grows inside of her is more dangerous than our entire coven combined. I prefer to have them in our guard or perhaps killed immediately if we find that they cannot be contained."

"What assurances do we have that the child will not be a threat?"

"Children, Marcus, children," Aro corrected and continued on, "I do not know. What I do know is that there was not a single past that I read but rather that of three individuals: Lenore and that of her unborn twins."

"She's carrying twins?" Marcus asked sitting higher in his chair. Normally, he naturally slumped down and made himself smaller though he was one of the tallest in height for their coven. The mere notion caught his attention as it did to everyone else in the room.

"Yes, Lenore Annabelle Fischer now has something that I want…desperately," he whispered the last word as it clung to his lips. He thought about her and the potential her children carried.

"But, Master, she does not have blood in her veins, how are they to survive?"

"Working miracles Alec," he turned his attention to the boy who would never know what it was like to be a man.

"I do not know how they have survived in a womb that does not create life as there is only so much even we as immortals can achieve. This newborn has pushed that boundary back further than ever thought possible…"

 _…_ _and I want everything from this woman…_

* * *

"Carlisle!" Alice called from the backyard and stopped in her tracks but in that moment, Carlisle was not there and had not shown his face around the house in weeks.

"Alice, what did you see?" Jasper asked with concern laced in his voice.

"I know where she is. Aro is going to force her into the Volturi."

Just as the words left her lips, Bella and Emmett ran out the back door having heard the commotion.

"What is it?" Emmett asked.

"Alice?"

"Lea is with the Volturi. Aro is going to force her into their coven," Jasper answered for her as the vision had yet to subside.

"He thinks she's useful...she's...no...something about a ring...and..." when the vision ended, Alice found she could not say the last of her words aloud. She looked at Jasper for help.

"Children? Alice, you're sure?" Edward asked stepping out into the yard though a brush of trees. Every set of melted gold eyes looked at him.

"What?" Jasper, Bella and Emmett asked simultaneously.

"She's pregnant..." Alice answered, her voice just above a whisper.

* * *

"I do hope you are finding everything to your liking my dear. In fact, I have always admired the decor of this room," Aro said in the doorway to Lea as she paced back and fourth in anguish near a closet door.

"Yeah," she mumbled trying ignore his penetrating gaze. She felt her stomach turning in knots as she twiddled her fingers—a habit she had as a human when she felt nervous.

"My dear Lenore, do not look so frightened of me," he tried, though he read her wrong as she felt anxious for other reasons as well.

"I am just trying to do what is best for us and and our kind," his Italian accent became slightly thicker when he closed the door behind himself. The two were now completely alone and cut off from the rest of the world.

"I know and I really am terribly sorry."

"You cannot say your sorry for what you have done, there are no words. _Do not_ test me and my patience again. We are not a coven to be trifled with," he told her with more than a warning glare.

"But that is beside the point, please, let me reintroduce myself. I am Aro, the official leader of this coven," he told her and for less than a second, he fell victim to the woman's beauty as she looked up at him and gave him less than a small smile. Even if it was, it was filled with fear.

 _What a goddess, I can see why Carlisle took an interest._

He took a moment to himself to recollect his suave demeanor. Lenore could feel her cold skin crawl as he watched her.

"However, the reason I have come to you is not for that of second chances at introductions. Since my coven and myself have collectively agreed to spare you for another day, I would like to make a proposition. You have a talent that, I believe, can be of great use to increase the strength of the Volturi," though he could barely call what she had a talent, just luck.

"Would you consider, if it please you and it shall, joining our little family?" He insisted though Lenore could tell it was an order. Suddenly, somehow, out of nowhere she felt at ease with the man as if her emotions were being played.

"Of course."

A genuine smile appeared on Aro's lips.

"Ah, yes, well, we'll have to get you a set of robes and a crest…" he began getting straight to business when he noticed a glint of light catching his red eyes. He saw that on her left ring finger, she wore a golden band emblazoned with the sigil of that of the Olympic coven in America. He eyed her and his mouth hung slightly agape.

 _Carlisle's ring…_

"My dear, what a lovely band," he lied.

"Where might I ask, did it come from?" Aro watched her and tried to gauge her reaction. She lifted her hand and looked at it, rolling it with her thumb.

"I'm not sure," she answered studying it closely.

"I had it with me before I changed I suppose. I'm still not sure what it means but it could not have been mine. The size is too big."

"Well, you shan't be needing that any longer," he said as he glided over to her side, closing the distance. He pulled it off and in doing so, once again relived her life as if it was his own.

"No!" She begged, "Please, I have to know what it means."

"How can you know that it means anything? Perhaps it is but a mere trinket."

"Please?" She begged again.

Against his better judgement, Aro reached for her _right_ hand and replaced the ring on her cold finger and read the mind of the woman before him again. He could not seem to grasp her and what she was like before she was changed. He could not see who she used to be as an individual as her children intercepted his telepathy and it was interesting but far more frustrating.

He, at the very end, attempted to read her thoughts about just the last few minutes alone. There was so much going through her head, he could almost not make a heads or tails of it in any direction, chronological or otherwise.

"So many thoughts…so intriguing. What an interesting mind," he said as she pulled her hand away and he solemnly let it slide through his own. She removed herself from his close proximity and walked over to a chair near the vanity. She opened a book that sat on the table and pretended to read it.

"My dear, I have something to tell you that perhaps should be said as it is very important."

Lenore turned her attention from the book to look at him. He turned away to look out the window unable to meet her gaze.

"You are pregnant."

The newborn took a moment to herself before she tried, "W…what?" She stuttered.

"I wanted to make absolutely certain before I told you. You see, I have a gift that has comes with my immortality. I prefer to call it "tactile telepathy" and with it, I can read all of the thoughts that a single individual has ever had and when I read your's, it is not just one mind, but three. That of your's and your unborn twins. That is the reason why I seem so keen on taking your hand."

 _…_ _that reason and others…_ he thought.

"How?"

Aro looked at her with interrogation.

"How is it possible? Is it possible?"

"I would seem as such, yes as you have clearly shone that much to be true. As to how the children that grow inside of you still survive, I have not a clue."

* * *

Carlisle ran so far north that within just a few hours, he reached the outskirts of a small town. He knew not of where he was and when his body collapsed with hunger, he looked up at the night sky. He saw what he thought were the reflections of streetlights but upon further inspection they were not. He reached the northern most pole of Earth and saw the northern lights as they danced before him.

The neon green burned the heavens like a fire, a fire that scorched his heart and turned it into ash. The stars danced with them and twinkled as they hung across the blackness lighted green. He watched until the lights blew away and left as all things must.

He picked himself off the frozen tundra and burst into another run. Within minutes, he reached the town's high school. One might wonder, what was the reason for his travels so far north in the dead of night?

He was still looking for her, _his Lenore._ It had nearly been two months since he watched her leave, but he was intent on not giving up. Who would? He decided to travel as far and wide as the North American continent would allow and did not return to the State of Washington for the past few months. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and reminded himself why he put himself through so much emotional strain. It was the only thing he carried with him as he found that he did not need much.

Carlisle looked down at the small box wrapped in the torn pages of Lenore's favorite book, a book turned into a musical he was credited for starring in: _Les Miserables_. Though it had taken him several hours as his perfectionism forced him under such circumstances, he'd successfully wrapped it according to his liking but then, he was always a romantic.

 _'_ _To love or have loved, that is enough.'_

He, and only he, knew the contents of this box, a ring. A ring for his love. He knew that they had only known each other for no longer than a few months but he knew somewhere in his un-beating, dead heart, that he loved her and knew without a doubt she loved him. She had told him as much.

But one might ask, what is love? To love someone or some physical thing is to see the light of day in the deepest, dankest cave. To see the stars beyond the sky when all have died and have been dead for a thousand years. To do more than be a protector, a friend, or simply just a lover. To do more than any of this and everything beyond. It is found it the finest of pearls and the deepest of oceans for a heart is the core of the very being. Love goes beyond years and sexes, love can be found for a mother and her babe. It can be found in a father and his wife.

Love is the very thing that drives humanity, for the world as we know it, is not ruled by that of cleverness and smarts, for the world we walk, is ruled by love. All of these things, physical or otherwise, is ruled even by the smallest chance at finding this affection, this devotion, this adoration, this desire!—and, when found, has fused two in a precious bitterness of misery that is life and serves to soften the parting blow. The deepest secrets of life are found so far as the two are ever concerned, for they are no longer anything more than two sides of the same coin, two densities entwined together, two wings of a sacred seraph.

 _"_ _What are we doing, you and I?"_ Carlisle asked.

 _"_ _We promised each other we'd be here, together,"_ she told him.

 _"_ _Yes, Lenore, I know. But I can never be there for you, not completely anyway. Not in the way I wish I could,"_ he told her leading into his proposal.

 _"_ _What you give me and what you have done has changed my life forever. I felt like I was drifting. It's just you're so easy to talk to, feel like I can tell you anything. I'm a ridiculous man,"_ he said the words dripping truth, _"redeemed only by the emotional warmth and consistency of our friendship. The world is brighter now that I have known you,"_ he told her.

 _"_ _I'll give you everything I possibly have, everything I can…"_ she told him as he placed his hand in his pocket and felt the box within.

 _"_ _Carlisle!"_ The couple heard someone yell from outside and were disrupted in his proposal that went unasked.

How could he know then? How could he have ever known that a force darker than hatred would overcome her? A force stronger than love had reached in and clutched her out of the abyss only to drag her down deeper on in a cavern that not even Carlisle would ever venture.

When he finally went back to Forks, it had been months but for Carlisle that felt like eternity. When he was at home, which he had not been for some time, he wished himself to be elsewhere as the ghost of the woman he opened his frozen heart to stayed with him. At the hospital after the days of his paid time off ran dry, they droned. On his first day back, he avoided going to his home. The morning was cold and dark. Before he walked in, he looked up into the sky hoping to somehow see her.

And, for a brief second he thought he did, not in a physical form, but rather in that of a star burning billions of miles away. This single star reminded the old doctor that she was still out there, somewhere. His Lenore was still out there.

 _My Lenore…_

But as he continued to gaze up, the star moved. He soon came to realize that this star was, in fact, not a star at all—it was an airplane.

 _Today's the day when dreaming ends…_

He sighed and puffed his chest preparing to go into battle. He walked through the sliding doors and, normally, he would be greeted with smiles from his colleagues and people he considered friends but no one said a word. No one gave him a look and he felt numbed by it.

Clara, the main nurse that worked with him, said nothing about the last time she saw him and he was thankful. However, he saw a look in her eyes of something along the lines of an apology.

He went through the motions that were required of the doctor, he made sure patients were comfortable, he released some of them, he checked new ones in and examined them and it was all around a quiet day.

When his shift ended, he went home and sat down on the couch, the living area void of anyone.

 _"_ _I can't help thinking this is all my fault because I fell in love with a human,"_ Edward told him once.

 _"_ _You found your mate,"_ Carlisle said to his son as they stood in a forest away from the pre-battle bonfire with old war stories and days gone by.

 _"_ _Carlisle, I never thanked you for this extraordinary life,"_ he said looking at the man who'd given him such opportunities but not without risk to the doctor's own happiness.

Now, the man thought of this conversation and smiled in spite of himself.

"What?" The very man that thanked him asked as he had come to sit next to Carlisle.

"I was thinking about something you once said to me."

"What did I say?"

"It was before Renee's witnesses spoke to the Volturi and before we knew we all weren't going to die. You said, _'I can't help thinking this is all my fault because I fell in love with a human.'_."

Carlisle smiled again remembering the truth of words that once were spoken and now, said again.

"You found your mate," Edward said and it brought his father's smile sorrow.

"She's gone, and I don't know where she'd go. I lost her trail north."

"Give it time, she'll have to come back with questions. Carlisle...there's something you need to know," Edward began. Just then, a thought came to the doctor, his smile dropped and his brow furrowed. Edward read his mind and continued on with the conversation that now took place in his father's head.

"It's possible…" Edward agreed.

"What is?" Jasper asked stepping into the room and feeling the weight within of sudden realization.

"If she's done what I think she has," Carlisle began, "the Volturi would have found her by now and Aro would have killed her unless he needs her for something. I know what I have to do."

"Carlisle, it is true. Alice saw something but there's something else..." Edward told to head of house sternly and tried to tell the man what he desperately needed to know.

"Edward, I've lost her once and I tried to bring her back because even the mere thought of being without her brought me to my knees. Wouldn't you do the same for Bella or Renee or any of us?" Carlisle asked pleading.

"Yes, but I'm not going to blindly walk into Volterra. Carlisle..." Edward tried again. It was the vote of the the entire household that Edward tell Carlisle of the expectant mother as Carlisle had told no one except Edward about Lenore's pregnancy after her untimely demise and the events that led to this impulsive moment.

"We will be there for you," Jasper said stepping closer and into the conversation.

"Gather everyone and tell them I'm going to Volterra," Carlisle told his sons.


	18. Tired of Pretending

He walked over to where she sat. She had been spending her days in the library trying to learn more about her coven and species but more than either of those, whether or not the predicament she had found herself in was at all possible.

Aro read aloud over her shoulders the first line he saw.

"…during this time however, newborns began to make spectacles of themselves led by a vampire named Maria."

Lenore sat up as quickly as her midsection could allow though sitting and standing had become something of a challenge with a growing belly she could not see the front of and breasts that were just as large. She turned to face the intruder for she was stunned by his sudden appearance.

"My dear, I thought we agreed that you should never be frightened of me," he told her as he placed gentle hands on her shoulders.

The contact from her bare shoulders, as her dress, without the use of her robe, offered such things, made her shutter uncomfortably. He lived Lenore's life over and with that, came her most intimate memories. He smiled a toothy grin and felt a twitch in his most private organ. Aro was attracted to the newborn female though he found such things as attraction and love to be petty. Though he had taken a wife, he thought of Sulpicia as less than himself and more of a vassal.

He looked the woman before him in the eyes, his large, red irises blackened with lust. He shifted his weight closer and, with his thumb and forefinger, tilted her chin upward. Lenore did nothing to stop him and he took that as an invitation. He closed the distance from her lips to his.

Lenore felt disgusted but made a careful note to try not to think of it. Yes, with her immortality and hormone imbalance that could be expected from her pregnancy, she was more inviting of this type of behavior but when it came from this man, it was absolute horror. In her days spent in the Volturi guard, she tried her best to avoid him as the looks he gave her made her more than uncomfortable.

This kiss was the worst type of hell she could ever imagine though it was chaste and simple.

He moved away and looked again in her eyes to gauge her reaction. She did nothing, but just stood and stared at his neck like a mannequin. She saw the faint outlines of a curved half-moon glowing just brighter than the rest of his body as it reflected in the firelight. She wondered why the bite-mark scar had not faded with his becoming a vampire, hers did eventually.

He kissed her again, and this time, used his tongue to enter her mouth. Lenore played along because she knew what was expected of her. She knew if she didn't, Aro could have her killed for whatever reason his cunning mind made up. She preferred not to have that outcome as anyone would. She didn't care about her own future but only those of her children. She suspected that if Aro would have had his way with her then he might spare them.

He was the dominate and she was more than willing to be submissive if only to protect her children.

His lips were hard as stone but as thin as paper possibly because he had aged for so long. His tongue was rough and dry like sandpaper. His fingers were colder than her's and more like stone caught in a blizzard than anything in relation to a human.

He broke the kiss and out of sheer momentum, pushed her against a bookshelf as the table went sliding across the room only to halt into a large globe replica of Earth as loose pages and books flew into the air. The impact of the force toppled the globe and it fell to the floor with a crash.

The force of Aro's push was at a deadly amount if only Lenore was not a vampire. She felt herself contracting and knew the outcome of these actions before they had truly begun. Lenore closed her eyes and tried not to scream in pain, if she did, it would have alerted one of the guards and she didn't know what would happen to her. Instead, she bit her bottom lip.

Aro ran up to her in a matter of moments but seemed like hours as she opened her eyes and watched the predator.

"The way you tease me…it's agonizing, it's dreadful…" he whispered. His voice was low and husky, almost a growl. He felt her naturally curved body and enlarged middle from her pregnancy beneath her dress. He smelled her scent and found it enticing.

"Such a prize, immodestly so _…my Lenore…_ " he whispered and something in her clicked. She'd heard those words before, words of ownership, words of love but they did not come from his cold, awful lips. They came from somewhere, somewhere else, someone other than the man before her, from a different time in a different place…

He shuttered at the feeling of her body. He crashed his lips onto her's and forced his tongue into her mouth. He ripped off her clothes and she did the same to him but in an animated fashion. He turned her and she hit her head her head on the corner of the shelving as he slowly ripped the stings and fastenings off her loosened corset, unwrapping his self-given present.

He turned her back around and felt her protruding chest and stomach wishing he was the father of whatever grew inside. He glided his ever wandering hands to her thigh and reached around, squeezing her hips and finally her bottom. Aro led his assaulting lips to her neck and finally reached her chest. He brought his mouth to one of her nipples and pulled it between his teeth.

He didn't care if he hurt her as long as he got what he wanted, and on both accounts, he did.

Aro reached between her legs using his forefinger and felt the apex of the woman's sex within. He shoved the finger inside of her, then two, then three…

Without notice or leeway, he lifted her leg so high that her foot dangled against his hip as he dropped his own trousers and entered her body.

" _…_ _.please….stop?_ " Lenore wanted to beg but didn't.

He shoved himself inside of her and that was it. That was all the woman needed. The threads on the seams the woman tried to sew back together within moments, broke. She let out a cry of hatred and pain, most most of all: disgust in him but mostly in herself for ever allowing this man to touch her in the way he did. She hated him, this monster. She let her body grow limp against his like a doll, no longer even pretending to react to his touch.

She was tired of pretending. She was tired of being somebody else even though she didn't know who she was.

With everything she was forced into without her consent from the time she woke burning in a fire she could not remember, to this every moment, she hated it. All of it, she no longer cared about anything, nothing. That is all this life meant to her, nothing. But she was immortal, and even if she wanted to die, she couldn't. Only there was one thing she knew she had no choice but to live for: her children.

She was a mother.

Even though she had yet to meet them, she loved them all the same. They became her only reason for existing. She didn't care about the unanswered questions about the ring she wore on her finger, about her past, about who she was, or who she loved…

The only thing that kept her in this life was that of her unborn twins.

As Aro heaved her up and down, the force from his thrusts made a level of the bookshelf grind into the the back of the poor woman and it hurt her. She did not stop him as she felt her body beginning to crack and said nothing. She was at a loss for words all the time until Aro was finished.

She was in pain but it did not compare to the pain she would feel after. In fact, she would gladly have accepted this rather then the repercussions of Aro's actions.

After he was finished, he pulled himself out of her and without a word, let her drop to the floor. Aro made himself look halfway decent and dressed. He left Lenore in the state she was and he did not bother to even give back the tattered remains of her dress to cover herself. He ran out of the library as if nothing had happened and with that, Lenore became the unwilling mistress to the most powerful thing in existence.

She nearly crawled back to find her dress and felt a pain in her ever growing uterus. She knew it was time. She'd felt the contractions that early morning but said nothing and Aro's assault solidified her deepest fear.

Lenore was going into labor.

She didn't know what to do and it terrified her. She didn't know whether her children would remain children forever and she didn't know if giving birth would kill her.

Slowly, she made her way to finding the furthest and smallest room in Castle Volterra. When she reached the predesignated destination, she closed the door behind her and barred it down to await the longest night of her existence in this life.

She was alone.

The room was filled with darkness and she was terrified unless she had company.

The closet was small so much so she could barely stand upright and her legs folded in the width.

* * *

Okay, I've always kind of had this thought in mind that somehow Lea would end up within the Volturi guard and Aro would take an interest though he is married. I know its a bit different then what I normally write but I want to expand my horizons.

A few chapters ago I changed the summary to the story because I believe what I originally wrote didn't quite work with the story anymore.

A while back, I said that I would write a compiled playlist for this fanfic and here it is, I narrowed it down to the songs that I've actually been listening to while writing this and some of the chapters are heavily influenced by them. Checkout the songs below and it might help to better understand the emotions and thoughts the main characters are feeling and thinking.

Warning: A lot of these songs are angsty and/or alternative…

 _The Sound of Silence_ by: Disturbed (Seriously, if you want to hear a life-changing song, please listen to this. Basically, the entire fic is based on or around this song.)

 _Breaking Inside_ by: Shinedown

 _Castle of Glass_ by: LINKIN PARK

 _Chasing Cars_ by: Snow Patrol (A scene from _Chapter 15: From the Ashes_ was heavily influenced by this song.)

 _A Drop In The Ocean_ by: Ron Pope

 _Hallelujah (Fragments)_ by: John Cale

 _I Miss You_ by: Blink-182 (The emotions Carlisle is feeling after Lenore's death was heavily inspired by this song.)

 _Incomplete_ by: Backstreet Boys ( _Chapter 13: Domestic Bliss_ and _Chapter 14: Burning Fire_ were both influenced by this song.)

 _Losing Your Memory_ by: Ryan Star/Ryan Star/Ryan Star (Lenore's memory loss and Carlisle's uncertainty of whether she would wake up was heavily based off of this particular song.)

 _My Immortal (Band Version)_ by: Evanescence

 _The Night We Met_ by: Lord Huron (A band I mentioned in _Chapter 8: The Appointment in Samarra_ but not only that, it's also a pretty good song and fits perfectly into the story.)

 _Over My Head (Cable Car)_ by: The Fray

 _Savin' Me_ by: Nickelback ( _Chapter 10: Losing Her_ and _Chapter 11: The Memory Faded_ were partially based off of this song.)

 _So Now What_ by: The Shins

 _Stay Awake_ : London Grammar (The parts of this fic after Lenore's death until she becomes a vampire is heavily based off of this song. If you listen to it, you'll understand.)

 _Too Far Gone (feat. Danielle Spencer)_ by: Russell Crowe & Alan Doyle (The dynamic between Carlisle and Lenore's relationship is based off of this song. Seriously, if I had to pick a song to describe this entire fic, it would be this…and yes, it's sung by the actor.)

 _Vindicated_ by: Dashboard Confessional

 _Waiting For You_ by: Always and Forever & Jeremy Campbell ( _Chapter 17: Carlisle's Ring_ is based heavily off of this song.)

 _We Are Broken_ by: Paramore

I'm not kidding, seriously, check these songs out. A lot of them actually helped me after my last breakup. Anyway, if you want to immerse yourself into the story that is _Between the Darkness and Dawn_ and to better understand the characters, their motives and their emotions, please, listen to them and really listen to the beats, the lyrics, the way they are sung…

Anyway, back to writing the next chapter...

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	19. The Fate of Lenore

Lenore heard the sound like nails dragging over a chalkboard and felt in her midsection tears that came from inside. She bit down on her teeth, grinding them together to stifle the screams she prayed she would never make.

She groaned and dug her fingernails into the wooden floors leaving claw marks in their wake. If she could have cried tears of pain, they would have come. She supposed she was strong enough to live with Aro's rape but the pain her children put her though made it feel like she was going to die. She didn't want to die, not before seeing her children at least.

She heard the clicks of several feet outside the door and held her stomach to stifle the noise. The feet stopped several paces from the cupboard.

"Do you hear that?" Someone, a female, asked.

"What is it?" Another female voice asked.

"I'm not sure…"

Lenore heard the footfalls as they walked closer to the door.

 _Please…go away…_ she prayed in the darkness before the dawn broke.

She was torn, she wanted help but she wanted to be left alone as well. She wanted someone, anyone except Aro, to be with her in the darkest of hours. She wanted someone to help her, to see her alone in a dark closet and take pity. At the same time, she was terrified of what would become of her children if someone had taken them and she would never know.

She wanted the man from her past, the man with blonde hair and blazing golden eyes. He was her sun, he was the light within her darkest hour and she'd remembered him. However, what she remembered was only very little and through the agonizing pain and suffering, she'd written him a letter.

Before she meekly left the library, she snatched up a piece of parchment and pen and scribbled the last words she might ever say though they were never said. She hoped that one day, he might read them and forgive her for what she'd done and for what she was about to make him endure.

The knob on the door jerked but did not open. The intruder pushed harder and broke into the small closet with the thunderous snaps of wood like breaking trees. She'd heard the sound before, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in a forrest and with her was a man whose face she'd only seen a glimpse of, _her sun._

"Lenore?" Someone asked, taking in the sight before her. The woman lay curled in the corner of the space in the fetal position.

Lea looked up and into the eyes of Aro's wife.

 _No…anyone else. Anyone but her…_

* * *

"You can't be serious?" Rose exclaimed. The Cullens sat around the dinner table much like they always had when discussing important family meetings, this was no different, though they wished it was under less concerning topics such as Carlisle's blind stupidity.

"I have to, Rose, I don't have a choice. She's my responsibility. She's apart of this family now," Carlisle said trying to grasp a calmer tone like he always had when speaking with his children.

"They're going to kill you," she told him with certainty, "you know that?" Rose saw it as a fact.

"Aro can be reasoned with and if it comes to a fight…" he trailed off unable to finish the thought.

"Carlisle, at least take one of us with you," Emmett said trying to find a better alternative rather than his father's suicide mission.

"No." Carlisle looked down at the table unable to meet anyone's gaze.

"I won't put any of you at risk. Especially the ones I _know_ Aro would kill me for. I won't do that."

"There has to be a better way of doing this, there has to."

"I can think of no other option. It's either this or let her be killed. I _will not_ have that again. I can't take it. If she's dead, I'm better off dead as well."

"Don't say that." Rosalie nearly yelled at her father-figure across the table, "Don't you dare, ever, say that, not to me, not to anyone else sitting at this table. Do you understand?" Though at first, Rosalie hated this life, she had come to accept her fate and learned to live with the others of her coven. She respected them but not all of the decisions they made. She cared for them though she would never say. She loved them: her brothers, her sisters, her niece, her husband and her father.

They were her family. They were the only thing she'd ever wanted in both this life and her past. She could not stand the thought of losing any of them no matter how cold she acted toward them, no matter how much she said she did not care for them.

Carlisle's only compliance was a single nod of his head and a large sigh as he thought about what he was doing and wether or not his death would really effect the rest of his family.

"I understand. I understand how irresponsible this is. I understand the ramifications it could possibly have, but I need her. I need her like I would need oxygen if I breathed. You all know how torn I've been since that day, the day I thought I lost her but she's out there, somewhere and I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring her home even if it kills me."

Only thinking of the woman he met and from the moment he saw her, he knew she was the one. He left the table and grabbed the keys to his car, walked down to the garage and opened the door.

Carlisle heard a set of feet following him, watching closely and tried not to be bothered by it.

"Carlisle," Edward called.

"I'm not changing my mind," he said grabbing a few thousand dollars out of cabinet and throwing the wad of petty cash in the passenger seat of his Mercedes.

"I know, but there's something you have to know." Before Edward could be interrupted again he spoke quickly.

"Do you remember what you told me?"

"When?"

"On the day of the accident. You sat in your office and you said she was pregnant."

"What about it?" He asked, losing his patience.

"Were they your's?"

"What do you mean, were they mine? Do you think even for a second she would be unfaithful?" He growled challenging his son to say yes and turning to meet his gaze.

"No…but…" Edward tried. His father had a look in his eye of a man out of his mind, a man in love.

"Wait," Carlisle backtracked, "they?" he asked in plural.

"It was twins Carlisle. She was pregnant with twins and if Alice is right, they're still alive."

"What? How?"

"I don't know…"

"Vampires can never carry children, a woman's body must change with the fetus…"

"I know, I don't know how she did it either."

"I need to go," Carlisle said climbing into the car. Before he could close the door, Edward's hand met his own on the steering wheel.

"Carlisle. Be careful."

"That's irrelevant," he said slamming the door nearly hitting Edward and pulled out of the garage.

 _"_ _Please…"_ Edward whispered as he watched Carlisle drive away into the darkness and fog of the night.

* * *

It was only less than an hour since the newborns had left Lenore's body and already, they were crawling. Sulpicia had led Lenore back to Lea's chambers where the former had set out blankets for the twins because there really was nothing else she could have done.

Not ten minutes since Lenore was found in that cupboard, she'd given birth to a boy and a girl. They were the most beautiful living things the eyes of everyone in the entire west wing of the castle had ever seen. Their bodies grew by the second, and already, they were moving around like that of a one-year-old baby.

Their hair was a light blonde, a contributing factor from both parents and they seemed to prefer formula as opposed to blood which the proud mother thought odd. Their eating had decided the color of their eyes as they were not the crimson the entire castle had become accustomed to, they were a golden brown and they reminded Lenore of her sun.

She'd screamed his name when the children had bitten their way out of her womb and Aro was alerted at once. It was decided then, the fate of Lenore.

The three masters of the Volturi waited outside the chamber door for the arrival of the children and all the while, they heard the sound of metal being torn and torn again accompanied by the woman's incessant screams in torturous pain.

When it ended, the children were seen like a lion animal in a zoo. No one touched them and no one dared. The mother lay in her bed and with her eyes, dared the immortals to make one wrong move in her presence. Soon, everyone left and the only people in the room were Lenore, her children and Aro.

"Get out," Lenore ordered without looking up from the baby boy she held in her arms. She climbed out of the bed and placed him into the crib next to his sister. With the way Lenore moved, Aro wouldn't have even been able to tell she'd just had twins or had ever been pregnant.

He stayed, ignoring her command. He claimed he needed to have a private conversation without listening ears but it was a clever lie to steal her away for just a moment. She stood from the crib and walked over to the window. She looked out wishing she was anywhere else than where she found herself.

"Lenore," he whispered the name. She did not give him her full, undivided attention and with absolute cause. Her children babbled in their cribs looking up at their dream catchers, it was clear that by tomorrow night, they would have outgrown their sleepers and would need actual beds.

"How dare you!" She growled still looking out the window.

"You know what I have to do, but it does not make it any less painful."

Still the woman paid no attention.

"Perhaps you can forgive me and all of my trespasses." He walked up behind her and placed gentle hands on her head and neck reliving her life and just the last few hours alone, felt the burning hate she had for him.

It had been decided.

"I know what you're going to do. I've always known but I want you to know, I never will. I hate you with every fiber of my being. But, if it keeps _my_ children safe, do what you must. I would rather die like I should have a long time ago."

Lenore didn't realize it but the words hurt Aro like he'd never, in the millennia he'd been a vampire, felt but every feeling she had toward him, he deserved.

Lenore wanted to die and even the lives of her children could not sway the mother. She'd lived long enough to see them, to hold them but not long enough to name them.

"You took me away from him," she began, "I'll never see him again. He'll never watch _his_ children grow," she whispered as she watched the sun rising in the east. The clouds were painted pink and red as the sun had not yet reached the horizon. The city had yet to wake. The dawn was breaking and she saw the light shining through peeking out from behind the mountains.

It was beautiful.

 _My sun…_ she thought of nothing else but Carlisle and her family and of how she had never actually watched a sunrise with those eyes before.

"As a final request, tell them of me? Tell them their mother loved them very much and she died to protect them."

"They won't even know your name," he whispered in her ear. Lenore's eyes shot wide with disbelief.

With one swift motion _,_ Aro pulled her head from her body and it dropped to the floor with a thud. He grabbed at her arms and tore them apart. He dropped them and did the same to her legs, all the while the sound of ripping metal cut through the room, the room never having had silence for even just a second until he carried the pieces to the fireplace.

He threw them in without a word and with only the trace hint of remorse. Lastly, he picked up her head full of blonde hair by the cheeks. Her mouth hung agape and he looked into her eyes that had rolled into the back of her head. He threw that in as well and took the seat from her desk and watched as the remains of the woman known as Lenore burned into nothing, all the while never thinking of the golden ring she wore on her finger and how it might survive the inferno.

He thought of nothing but just watched in silence. The only noise came from the fire as it crackled filling the room with a thick, purple smoke and the children, one of which, after a while, began to cry.

He picked up the daughter and walked back to the chair. He held her in his cold, marbled arms and brushed a hand atop her head—like a father might have. He swaddled the child and as he looked at her, he could see the distinction between the mother and the father.

She had her mother's eyes if only a change of color, and Carlisle's straight nose. Though she was chubby, he could see slightly angular features as well.

If the children could not be his, he granted himself the authority to name them seeing as they had no one other than him.

"Aria, little Aria," he smiled at the play on words and the opposite gender equivalent of his own name.

"Aria and Aiden."

* * *

Hey guys! It feels great to be writing for this story again. Sorry about the long hiatus and I hope I did not disappoint with this chapter. I will be updating this story regularly again and I hope you all will be with me when I do.

Tell me what you think by leaving a review, following or favoriting.

I've also been writing another fic which is why I haven't updated this one in so long. Check it out and tell me what you think. It's called _Intentions._ It's about Carlisle and Esme and how they've hired a surrogate to have their baby.

Anyway, enough self-promoting...

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	20. Children

"Carlisle, my dear friend. How wonderful to see you again! To what do we owe the pleasure of this rather unexpected visit?" Aro smiled with a devious glint in his crimson red eyes.

"I'm looking for someone and I figured she might be here," Carlisle said with a scheming bow of his head in what was supposed to be respect.

"And who might that be?" Aro asked stepping down from his throne and pulled Carlisle into a small hug around the shoulders only to find that the brotherly affection was not returned. The doctor made absolutely certain that no part of Aro's skin brushed his own, if it did, Carlisle knew he would be killed without so much as a warning or a glance.

"She's a newborn. Alice had mentioned the woman had decided to come here," he lied.

"Ah," Aro's face lit up with the mention of the fortune-teller's name.

"How is little Alice? She's doing well I hope."

"She's fine, but do you know the whereabouts of the newborn?" Carlisle looked into Aro's eyes and saw fear briefly pass his features.

"Come. Let us speak in private."

 _Where is she you bastard…_ Carlisle looked at the man as the elder led him out of the throne room and into a nearby alcove. Aro closed the door for a bit of privacy and stepped in line with Carlisle as the latter wandered through the shelves containing odds and ends.

Carlisle spied a letter on the shelving and upon further inspection, realized it was addressed to him. Aro turned his back then, giving Carlisle the chance to snatch it and place it in the lining of his blazer.

"My friend," Aro turned to meet the gaze of the younger, "you've failed to give the name of the woman you seek."

"Lenore, Lenore Fischer but she might have been going by 'Lea'."

"No," Aro lied. The tension within the room grew a thousandfold as the inhabitants of Castle Volterra listened in on the conversation but kept the lie a secret. The tension became tangible like a thick black oil that leaked on the marbled floor. It folded in upon itself swallowing the castle into the dark recesses of dangerous lies and Carlisle would have been the stupidest man alive to not know Aro and everyone in within the castle, including himself, was lying.

No one had an idea what Aro was playing at but Aro had been preparing for this moment the second he knew about Lenore. If Carlisle was smart, he'd leave the castle and run back to the coven he'd created and never so much as blink in the presence of the Volturi again. The alternative, however, would require having to kill two paramours leaving the children Aro suspected Carlisle had no recollection of, orphaned.

Either way, Aro would win and Carlisle would lose. The master of the Volturi would no longer have to worry about the Olympic coven ever again and he would have gained two invaluable members to add to his collection of vampires by the evening.

But love is irrational, and it made Carlisle a stupid man but smart enough to walk away with his life. Love is dangerous, he knew that now. Love is deadly, Aro, Carlisle and the lost Lenore within love's triangle knew this to be a fact.

But which of the unwilling participants was the killer? Lenore had killed innocent humans and took pleasure in such a daunting task but Carlisle and Aro were guilty of killing Lenore and only one had attempted to redeem himself by offering her the type of life he led.

Which of the three was the one truly dead? Yes, it had been Lenore to be killed doubled over, but could it not be said Carlisle had died with her? The man known as Dr. Carlisle Cullen was gone. He knew not of where he'd been sent and knew not of who he would become, but for now, he was a shell of the man he once was. But could it be Aro? If he was not careful, he would find himself dying at the hands of the insane, love-crazy man before him.

Which of the three was most alive or had been?

Which of the three paid more than the other two?

Which of the three was the most foolish?

"No, I don't recall anyone by that name crossing our paths as of late," Aro said pretending to think.

"Thank you sir," Carlisle said, holding his arm to his side so the letter would not escape.

"Jane?" Aro called out knowing she would be listening. Then, there were several knocks on the door leading to the room Carlisle and Aro had found themselves in.

"Come in dear," Aro called.

"Master?" The young girl asked. She looked at Carlisle for only a second, and the old doctor's back straightened in fear of the effortless pain she could bring upon him.

"Would you do me the favor of showing our dear friend where he will be staying for the day?" He asked indicating to Carlisle who knew better than to disagree.

It was nearing high noon and Carlisle's sneaking into Volterra was difficult enough. If he wasn't careful, his body would reflect the sun's light and humans would be alerted about the existence of beings such as them. But Carlisle's staying was nonetheless enforced whether he wanted to or not. It wasn't an invitation, it was an order.

Jane gave a simple nod of her head and with the doctor hot on her heels, led the way into one of the rooms within the west wing. As they walked, silence fell between the two in awkwardness. Without a word, Jane opened the door and left him in the hall to his own devices. Carlisle walked into the room and was his nose stung with the smell of burned incense. Clearly, whomever last used these quarters was killed and thrown into the fireplace that burned and only left their ashes behind.

The smell alone left him grief stricken for the unfortunate vampire but he had other matters to attend to instead of mourning someone he doubted he knew. He closed the door and the sound reminded the old doctor of the clanking of prison bars. He was imprisoned for the next few hours but only until after the sun had set.

Carlisle felt the letter within his jacket and pulled it out as he sat down on the desk chair. He felt the thick parchment of the envelop and looked at the words printed on the front. The calligraphy was one he recognized to be that of his love's. The letter was left unsealed and as he unfolded the pages, he was anxious as to what the content of the page held. Taking a sigh to calm himself enough to read burned his nose even more so. He closed his eyes and when they opened again, he prepared himself for the worst but it did nothing to alleviate the on-coming pain.

 _Carlisle,_ he read, _we always said that we would stay together, forever, that I'd be with you even after death. That you would watch me grow old, that you would help the old woman I was supposed to become cross the street, that our never aging family would remember me long after I was gone but no one would mourn me because you would look back on happier memories.  
_ _You would think of the times I'd show up at your house with a different movie and we'd make a family night out of it. You remember that? I know that you do. You always said that, when we started dating you're memory was photographic and you could never forget anything from this life. You told me you used to get so frustrated by it, knowing you can never forget bad days, those terrible days…  
_ _I felt bad for you. I remember you said there was so much you wanted to hold onto but so much more you wanted to forget. But you're lucky you remember things, at least you have the bad days. I wish I could tell you to wait for me but I don't know if you'd willingly come with me, or if you'd take me back to Forks, or you'd kill me.  
_ _I didn't want to the immortality you offered because, from what I remember, simply being with you was enough. I didn't want to live in this world, you're world, and you made me. I know you did what you did because you knew I didn't want to die just then and you couldn't lose me, but now, I've killed and I've become everything you never wanted me to be and it's my fault.  
_ _You were better than me, most people are. You have to let me go and I have to stay because, you remind me of the woman I used to be. It's not a clear picture and I don't know much as the repressed memories have only just started coming back bit by bit, but it's there. It took what Aro did to me to remember you.  
_ _I hate him.  
_ _I hate him and I want him dead. I want him gone. I want him without life with nothing left but his body burned and to be turned into ash but at the same time, I have to thank him. He brought me back to you…  
_ _That other woman, the woman I was before I became this was so innocent and carefree. That was the woman you fell in love with. You remind me of who we used to be and I want to forget as much as I can, I have to. I don't have a choice.  
_ _Maybe that's why I ran away. Maybe it was because I was too afraid to face you after everything that had happened or maybe I was just too scared to face myself.  
_ _I don't think I'm going to make it out here in Italy alive or in the basic sense of the term and I'm not wrong. Aro will kill me, it's just a matter time and I believe that time has come. It doesn't matter, being here isn't better than being dead, it's worse. I hope you realize that. I hope you get away from the Volturi. I hope you remember the good days and perhaps just one of the bad ones too and I know you will.  
_ _I don't think you'll ever read this because you're too angry with me, but, if you do, I want you to know I think I loved who we were and I'm sorry I made you into who you are. I forgive you for what you have done and condemned me to a fate worse than death. It was one helluva ride, wasn't it?_

 _I have to tell you that I do love you and Aro is forcing me away. So for the sake of both of us and our children…_

 _Goodbye, Sweetie._

Carlisle read the last words and dropped the letter on the desk and something in him snapped. And that something terrified even himself. Who was he? Who had he become? What was he going to do?

These questions went unanswered and when he tried, new questions formed on top of the others. He felt the weight of his uncertainty. All of his life, this life, this immortal life, he always knew what he wanted and took it without remorse. But now, it was time to pay the Piper.

He paced the room rereading the letter several times over as he thought. When he'd come to a conclusion on what to do, he looked into the fireplace as if it offered him some type of confirmation on his most recent objective when he noticed something.

Within the dying red embers of the fire, he saw a small glint of light that burned brighter than the rest. He might have ignored it but he felt drawn to the small sparkle. It was too small for any mortal to detect with their defective eyes and he inspected closer. Getting down on his hands and knees, he dug through the burning ash with a fire poker.

When he heard the silent ting of metal on metal, he pulled out a charred piece of metal. It was small and blackened from the fire's blaze. It was bent and in the days of it's prime, it would have made an O shape. Using his fingers, he polished off the char and when he recognized it, he nearly threw in back into the fire.

It was his own crest.

It was the ring he'd given to Lenore the very last time he ever saw her. He ran to a nearby sink and continued to polish the ornament that once dominated his right hand careful not to drop it into the drain of the sink.

He bent it back into shape and replaced it on his finger, where it belonged until he'd given it away.

 _What have I done? I've condemned her soul. I loved her. What have I done?_

In his anger, he snatched the letter off of the floor, shoved it into his pocket and walked out the door when he nearly ran into two small children. Both equivocal in height and hair. The two children looked no older than seven years.

"Hello," one of them said looking up and into Carlisle's eyes with all the beauty and carefree ways of a child. It was a little girl and she was beautiful. The other child, a twin, said nothing and looked around awkwardly.

"Hello," Carlisle answered.

* * *

Hello everyone out there in the fanficiton world of this story! I just wanted to apologize that this chapter has taken forever and when I was writing this, it's still technically Thanksgiving Day for me only because I haven't slept yet, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading this!

Thank you for taking the time out of your own lives to read this monster of a story I don't even know what to call anymore. Thank you for sticking with me for however long it's been since I've been writing this and thank you for the newcomers who've just started and I mean that when I say it. Sincerely, thank you.

I hope you all are liking the story and hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to write.

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	21. Light

Carlisle continued to gape at them in glorious wonder. He stood in awe of the doll-like children before him.

In height, they nearly reached his chest. In hair, they were both amazingly blonde and the golden strands very nearly blinded Carlisle. The little girl's hair waved completely down her back in an adoringly messy fashion whereas the boy's was cut short and tousled off to the side.

Their skin was of a pale complexion but appeared healthy and looked as soft as a cloud that hung in the heavens above. Their faces showed a faint pink blush in their cheeks suggesting they were not immortal and the strange heartbeat was a complete giveaway. Just the sound, the timed muffles were not of a human child's. The flutter was irregular and one could have danced to the beat as the two hearts ticked in unison like a song. Then, Carlisle realized, the two breathed. Their small shoulders grew and shrunk the longer he stared.

But their eyes, their eyes lit up their faces and begged to be drowned in. They were large and doe-shaped and a dark, liquid gold, very much like Carlisle's own. Their lashes were were long and thick. Above their eyes were two symmetric brows that curved in such a way only to highlight the children's faces even more so.

He thought he might lose himself within the light the two before him pulled. He felt entrapped within. It was like basking in the burning inferno of a higher intellect as it encompassed him and allowed him to become part of it's everlasting glory. The thing poets dreamed of, he found, were true, but then, he was always a hopeless romantic.

This delicate light should have been nowhere near the dark shadows that lurked the halls of Castle Volterra. But these eyes, they were not that of seven-year-old children. They looked old and told the story of the true age of twins that had to grow up all too quickly. They deserved the childhood they were ultimately denied.

Carlisle thought they were beautiful but anyone could see it.

They were perfect.

"I'm Aria but everyone here calls me just "Ari". This is my brother Aiden. He doesn't talk much, he's shy," the little girl said, puffing her chest in all the righteous self-confidence her small frame could muster. Carlisle was a stranger to them but little "Ari", as she'd called herself, took it in stride. The two children had all the seeming maturity of a young adult repressed by the size of their bodies.

"Hello," was all Carlisle could manage as he was at a loss for words. He studied their faces just a second longer and Edward's voice entered the mind of the elder; it rang in Carlisle's ears as if his son stood next to him.

 _"_ _It was twins Carlisle. She was pregnant with twins and if Alice is right, they're still alive."_

His children.

 _My children…_

They were the product of his courtship of Lenore and he realized, their brilliant luminosity was, at the very core, what had drawn Carlisle to Lenore. Yes, he loved everything about the woman he knew to be dead and her contemporary vision of illusive beauty would torture him until his dying day but the fluttering shine he'd seen the day he met her, was what drew him unto her like a magnet.

These children, his children, had the same light within them, through these children, he saw their mother. He knew with these children, she lived on. These were the stars that he'd tried so desperately to find but it seemed, he'd been looking in all the wrong places.

The sudden love he felt by just staring at the children inspired him to do things he could never have imagined. Even though he was just one man, through this love, he felt the world around him, that he had conquered everything so far as he was concerned. The damp earth he trudged upon in the forrest of his homeland, the unfelt wind that blew upon his face, the house in which he and his family resided, he had everything. He had everything and in his greed, left nothing for anyone else.

"My name is Carlisle."

"That's a funny name," the boy, Aiden, whispered.

"I agree with you. I don't know why my father chose that name of all of them," Carlisle said to the boy.

"How long have you two been here?" Carlisle asked.

"I don't know," Aria said when Aiden gave no reply, "We've never been allowed to leave the castle walls, we've been trapped here together since the moment we became and every second since then," Aria answered looking down the hall and into the blue sky beyond.

"That's terrible, you've never been outside?" Carlisle asked, wondering just how long that was.

"My brother and I, we have several abilities that Aro insists need to be protected. He's the closest thing we have to a father so we obey. Aro said he found out this talent when we were babies and he raised us. He told us that the woman who was our mother forgot about us and that if she did love us, she would have remembered who we were and she would have stayed."

"Who is she?" Carlisle asked knowing the answer, seeing through the lie these children had known, it could never have been so. He had the proof that Lenore did love these children, even enough to die for them. She gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect them and to have known anything else would have dulled the vibrant memory of their mother.

"I don't know, he never told us. He just said that if she cared about us, she would never have left in the first place."

"Ari!" Aiden complained.

"What?" She asked looking at her bother, "He seems like a good man. We can trust him, I know it. Have I ever been wrong?" Aria asked with a bright but sorrowful smile. Aiden said nothing knowing she was right but sighed and silenced his voice. He took another look at Carlisle with uncertainty.

 _"_ _Brother, can you feel it?"_ Aria thought and shot a quick glance at Aiden.

 _"_ _Yes,"_ He answered reluctantly without moving his lips.

"You see, our abilities only work at peak efficiency if we're in a close proximity to each other."

"Oh?" Carlisle prompted.

"One of them is the ability to make people forget but we're also able to project certain memories like a dream."

"If that's so," Carlisle began, "I don't believe your mother left because she did not love you. What mother could hate her children? No, I believe it was because you can make people forget. Maybe, when you were smaller, you made her forget. You made her forget because when you grew inside of her tummy, the three of you were connected. You felt the suffering she endured and so you helped her in the best way you could, by making her forget."

"I never thought of that," Aiden said, putting his thumb to his lips like many well-known philosophers. The twins said nothing as they contemplated the idea, when Aiden suddenly broke the silence.

"We're naturally stronger, faster and smarter of any other vampire we know, even though we're not full-fledged immortals. And if we concentrate hard enough, we can move things with our mind but we didn't want to tell anyone but if Ari says we can trust you, we can. That's more than we could say about the others here."

With only his sister's reassurance, Aiden grew a fraction of a liking to the man before them. He felt comfortable around Carlisle, he wasn't like the others within the castle walls. He didn't seem masochistic or devious like the others he'd met. He thought Carlisle to be a good man.

"Fascinating…" Carlisle breathed.

"I agree," Ari spoke aloud.

"You two certainly are prideful aren't you?" Carlisle asked with a smile but a shake of his head.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget. My brother and I also have something of a twin-telepathy. He just thought you were a good man," Ari smiled and looked up at the man in complete agreement with Aiden.

"What's that?" The boy asked, spying the envelope within Carlisle's jacket when the elder shifted his feet. Using his right hand, he pushed the envelope further into his jacket.

"Excuse me," Carlisle remembered feeling the parchment and why he'd walked out of the door in the first place, "I have a matter I need to attend to," was all he offered and unwillingly begun to walk away.

"Wait!" Ari yelled but the sound was not shrewd, more like a song, stopping Carlisle in his tracks. He turned around as the two chased him down.

"I think I've seen that before," she said, not at the letter in his jacket but rather the ring on his finger.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, grabbing at his hand to inspect the ring. Carlisle felt the warmth of the little girl's hand on the ice-cold temperature of his own.

"I've seen it too…" Aiden continued.

"You've seen this?" Carlisle asked intrigued, slipping off the ring and placing it in the little girl's hands.

"Yes, we were younger than we are now…but I just thought it was a dream…"

"At least it seemed like one…" Aiden finished.

"No, not a dream, perhaps just an old memory," Carlisle said.

"What is it?" Aria asked, giving the ring to her brother for inspection.

"It's my crest, everyone in my coven wears one," the father to the unknowing children answered.

"What does it mean?" Aiden asked as he followed the shape of the lion.

"It doesn't just mean one thing but everything my coven believes in. It represents our loyalty to one another. Each part of the sigil depicts a different aspect that we believe in: strength, ferocity, sincerity, faith and forever."

"It's beautiful…" Aria whispered.

"You have a coven?" Aiden asked, giving the ring back, to which Carlisle replaced on his finger.

"Yes, there are eight of us including myself: Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Renee."

"Are they like you?"

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked.

"Are they nice? Are they trustworthy?" Aria asked with uncertainty, her face blushed a bright pink.

"Yes, they are. Why?" Carlisle furrowed his brow, wondering where the child was headed in the conversation.

 _"_ _I don't want to be here anymore Aiden,"_ Aria thought, _"Please don't make us stay."_

Aiden sighed and nodded his head, thinking back on the times the guard within the Volturi belittled them and made them feel like less. A tear very nearly escaped Aiden's melted gold eyes, a tear that did not go unnoticed by Carlisle.

"When you leave, can you take us with you?" Aria asked, her shoulders shrunk at the possible rejection.

"We won't be a bother! We'll be good, " she added quickly.

"Are you sure?" Carlisle questioned.

"We feel…" Aiden breathed, "we feel…safe with you."

"Of course…" the doctor agreed, wanting to know just what Aro had done to _his_ children. Just then, Aria threw herself at the man and hugged him so tight Carlisle thought he might break beneath the child's embrace. In the pit of his stomach, he very nearly felt alive.

"But first," the elder began, "there is something that needs to be done. Gather everything you need, and be quick about it!" Carlisle said once the child had let him go. He walked off to find the first person within the castle that deserved what was coming...

* * *

Hello to all the beautiful people out there who have managed to stumble upon this story! I just wanted to take the time and explain where this chapter came from. I don't have children, first and foremost, but I do have a nephew and niece so this chapter was inspired by them. I've never known how much a parent could love their child, but this is what I'd imagine it might feel like. I hope I didn't disappoint you and your expectations.

Leave a review to tell me what you think!

Another thing, this chapter was very heavily influenced by the song _'Light'_ by Sleeping at Last. So, if you want to hear a truly beautiful song, give it a listen. It damn near made me cry the first time I heard it. :P

I hate to say it but there will probably only be about three or four more chapters in this fic, as Carlisle's story is very nearly coming to a end. We've come so far haven't we?

Anyway, as always,

-Your daily dose of romance


	22. Mask of a Man

They were dead before anyone knew what was happening. Carlisle used stealth to kill each and every member of the Volturi be it the guard, the wives, administrators…he didn't care. He never relished the thought of killing any living thing and hated when he felt the need to hunt but that Carlisle was gone. In the mind of this new man, he thought he was doing right by Lenore.

He loved her, he loved her and he'd been driven insane with the desire to do unto them what was done unto her.

Killing the guard had been the trickiest thing he ever had to do. Jane and her brother were the first as he knew, he would be killed without the upper hand. He refused to think about the fact that these children were biologically, only a few years older than his own. Venom had poured from his eyes as he walloped the evil doers and his shoulders shuttered as he grunted pulling their heads from their bodies.

Carlisle cried out with all the fury felt by his entire being. If his body had been a fire, he would have burned brighter than the sun. If he'd been a god, his fury would have been felt by his entire race.

It was not a beautiful sight, but a spectacle nonetheless. Now, there was only one vampire left…

"They're gone," he said when it was just himself and Aro. Carlisle walked behind the man as he sat in a chair staring at the fire. The flames set his face ablaze contouring his eyes, his nose, his mouth that was upturned in a small sadistic grin.

"They're dead. I killed them," Carlisle shuttered that the truth of his own words.

"No one is going to save you. Look at that, your empire has fallen, _Master_ ," Carlisle mocked as Aro sat there.

"You should have heard how Sulpicia begged for her life. I didn't want to kill her, believe me, but if there are any loose strings left in the tapestry, one need simply pull and everything comes undone. She cried and screamed, she faced her demise with fear. Did _she_?"

" _DID SHE?!_ " Carlisle screamed when he did not answer.

"…no…" Aro mumbled in a sigh in fear. He'd never been afraid of the younger vampire, ever. As long as Aro knew of Carlisle he'd never been even a remote concern, Aro never once feared the younger, now, he was terrified.

"You killed her?" Carlisle glowered, his line of sight never leaving Aro's frame as the murderer paced the room in anguish but they were both murderers now. Carlisle didn't want to kill Aro, he was done. His bloodlust fit of rage had ended with Sulpicia's cries but he had to. If not, hell would rise out of the cracks of the Earth and recede with Carlisle's dying day.

"Yes, I killed her," Aro answered, his voice coming out in only a strained feather-like tone.

"Why? What did she do?"

"She very nearly exposed our kind. She gave birth to twin devils, demons that could not be controlled and in time, if we found that to be so, they would have joined their mother in the burning pits of hell."

"They're no demons," Carlisle mumbled in subdued anger, "but perhaps, we are, you and I. Perhaps, we are the devils. We've known nothing but evil in this life Aro. Nothing but death, and yet, you think those children, innocent children, devils…"

"I did not want the hate she felt toward me to influence their upbringing. I wanted them saved…"

"Why did she hate you?" Carlisle asked cutting him off. "What did you do to her?"

"Do you recall Chelsea and Corin's talents?"

Carlisle gave no verbal reply but just stared, waiting for Aro to continue.

"Neither could use them to influence Lenore in any way. Perhaps the children acted as a shield while they grew inside or perhaps she was in fact, herself a shield, I couldn't be certain. She hated me because neither of those gifts would work on her and because of what I had done."

"What did you do?" Carlisle asked afraid to hear the answer.

"I took her," Aro admitted ashamed of his actions watching the flames before his eyes dance. "The woman's beauty was like that of sorcery. She entranced me and she hated me but she feared leaving. She feared she would be followed and I need not have asked her. She died bravely but while she lived, she was terrified. Carlisle, I am sorry."

"I appreciate the apology, but it will not save you. You knew this was coming."

"No. I underestimated your love for her. I underestimated you and I lost the game. Perhaps this is what it took to teach me something I refused to learn. I am nothing without my coven," Aro admitted sadly. At the truth of these words, Carlisle felt sympathetic told the old vampire.

 _Perhaps…_ Carlisle thought no longer looking at Aro, _perhaps, I underestimated her. I underestimated her and_ I _lost the game. Is this what it took for me to learn?_

"I am not a fighter," Aro continued breaking Carlisle's thoughts, "nor a lover. Not a saint or a peacekeeper or a god. There is no teacher within me and I cannot be taught, but this lesson, I should have already known.

"This game, this war, we'd been fighting it for centuries but neither of us acknowledged it. Since your Edward and Alice, since Isabella and Renee. But even further still, when you rejected your own biology and fed off the blood of animals, it's a disgrace. Since you came into this castle when you were merely a youngling. This is where we make our last stand, and this is where fate decides our paths. Congratulations, you are at the head of the most powerful coven in all the world."

Carlisle wished in that moment, that Aro might put up some kind of fight because Carlisle himself was drained. If Aro resisted, he would kill Carlisle and, Carlisle thought, that wasn't a bad thing. He was tired but he could not sleep. He felt ill but his body showed no signs. Aro was Carlisle's last way out and into the next life beyond.

"I didn't do it for power, I'm not like you. Good bye old friend. You've met death with a strong head."

Regrettably, Carlisle pulled Aro's head from his shoulders. In that brief moment of contact, Aro read every thought of Carlisle's throughout his life as an immortal. He saw the pain Carlisle endured when he rejected human blood and hid himself in a cellar in fear of his father's posse for those three days.

He saw Carlisle attempting to commit suicide by several means: jumping off of a cliff only for his body to heal itself, stabbing himself only for the dagger to shatter like glass, poison of which his body absorbed…all of these were futile attempts to reject his new life and all of which, failed.

He saw the final acceptance of this life. He saw the expanding and broadening mind of the newborn while he read in the midst of night. He saw the idea that if Carlisle could help people, and perhaps familiarize himself with the scent of human blood, he would no longer crave such a thing. A thought that grew into a job, a job that became a passion. Carlisle was not barbaric and refused to live in such a manner of killing an innocent.

He saw Carlisle sneaking into his father's home and watched while the ill man tossed and turned in the bed, thinking his son had died. That night, Carlisle said his goodbyes with a kiss on his dying father's sweat-beaded brow. That night, he broke into the church his father preached and stole a keepsake incase Carlisle ever wanted to revisit the boy he used to be. Carlisle stole the cross, a cross which his father had carved, from above the pulpit and thought it ironic.

When he held the wooden idol, he remembered the child he used to be. A blonde little boy who'd received his hair and complexion from a mother he did not know. A little boy that ran in fields while he played and sat still in sermons he did not understand. Aro looked at this little boy through the eyes of the man he became and realized then, Aiden was a dead-ringer for his father.

That night, Carlisle left his old-self behind—the human child that a pastor had raised.

He saw the exceptional vampire Carlisle had become when he'd stayed within this very castle's walls. Aro knew the younger studied every waking second to fully understand what he'd become. When he'd read every last word in each book of every library, Carlisle turned to Aro for guidance. Then, Aro realized, Carlisle thought the elder like a father, a teacher, a mentor. How if there was one person Carlisle would have wanted to be the most proud of him, it was Aro.

Carlisle wanted his approval. But this was denied as Aro was intrigued by the youngling more than anything. How he studied the peculiar vampire with all the precision of a microscope. How he wondered what the effect would be when he threw a bloodied man just outside the library doors with instructions for the others within the castle that no one was the touch the victim. How that had pained Carlisle beyond belief as he studied, craving the warm liquid in which the man's heart pumped.

Aro saw the first time Carlisle had met Garrett during the Revolutionary War. Carlisle, by this time, believed his appetite for human blood had been curved whereas his new friend drank without remorse. Carlisle thought Garrett to be an attractive companion but his thirst for human blood forced the two onto separate paths. Paths that would meet every so often as there are so many times two immortals can inexplicably meet.

Aro read the thoughts of Carlisle when he met a dying mother, father and son. There was nothing to be done as back then, medicine was not as advanced. He could not save the parents and with the mother's dying breaths, she demanded Carlisle save her son using what ever means necessary. The mother suspected Carlisle to be an other worldly creature in the mask of a man and she was not wrong.

Carlisle knew Edward would die. He knew it. He ran what ever test the modern medical equipment was able and gave him medication to help the young soul but it did nothing to relieve the boy of his fever. It did nothing to save his mortal life.

 _"_ _Forgive me…"_ Carlisle whispered as the boy lay dying before the doctor's eyes. Carlisle bit and in his time as a vampire, never did he taste human blood. It was extravagant. It was rich. It was intoxicating. With everything, all the will, the compassion, the hatred he could muster, he pulled himself away from the boy, turned Edward and condemned his soul.

 _"_ _Will he take my last name? Will he become the vampire that I have sought out to relieve myself of this lonely immortal life?"_

Aro read the thoughts of his successor like a book. He read the past mind of the younger with all of life's regrets and hopes and dreams. How it pained Carlisle when Edward left only to return years later. The creator held open arms and no questions asked as to where his charge was and what he'd done. They stayed like that for many years. They remained loyal to each other, they remained companions and in time, they became father and son.

Aro saw when Carlisle changed Rosalie that fateful night he'd found her. The doctor knew who she was as they were both within an elevated status of New York. He found her attractive but decided against romancing her as she was promised to another, Royce King. From what he understood, she'd left a friend's house late, what a beautiful woman like her was doing in the middle of the night, he had no clue.

He'd been on his way home when fate weaved their lives together. Carlisle found her but she was broken. She was beaten, battered…and bloodied. Her blood was tantalizing and it teased him. She would make a beautiful daughter as he believed she would not love him in that way and she would make a beautiful companion for Edward. Aro lived Carlisle's shame when Rosalie hated him and rebelled against him, her own creator.

 _"_ _Why didn't you just let me die? I wanted to die!"_ Rosalie screamed.

Carlisle said nothing to defend his actions and felt the shameful hurt when Rosalie had told him she hated him for turning her into what she'd become.

 _"_ _I hate you! I hate you and everything we are! I hate this! I wish you would have let me die! I wish you never had come to my rescue!"_

Against Carlisle's wishes, Rosalie avenged her own death from the evildoers that had ravaged her and later begrudgingly joined his family as a daughter and sister.

Emmett had come to live under Carlisle in much the same way as Edward and Rosalie—he was dying. The family head was proud of his daughter for resisting the human's blood and through sheer brute strength, carried him back to the home in which they resided at the time. Carlisle thought perhaps if he did save the man, Rosalie might forgive his own trespasses against her.

Like the rest of his 'children' as Carlisle learned to call them, he resisted human blood. Emmett grew into a fine immortal who loved to laugh and joke and at times, Carlisle thought the boy a fool but never would he say this aloud for fear of the young man, but if a fight did break out between the two, it would only be in good fun. Carlisle was proud to be able to introduce the boy as his son.

Aro felt Carlisle's uncertainty when Alice and Jasper had found the small coven during the nineteen-fifties. He knew nothing of Alice just as she knew nothing of herself. She explained she had visions of the future, that she'd seen him and Carlisle thought this talent intriguing. He allowed them to stay if only he could study Alice's ability, but after long consideration and no where else for them to go, Carlisle asked Alice and Jasper to stay.

Aro felt the love for Alice, an affection that was returned in full force and he knew she was fiercely loyal to the man. He understood then why she refused to join the Volturi coven. Aro felt Carlisle's quiet pain when Alice left for a short time when the dictatorship that used to be the Volturi became a threat. The uncertainty when she left created a longing in himself for his daughter's safe return. For a time, he thought she might never come back to the place she'd learned to call home. He thought he might never have his daughter return to their family.

Carlisle knew Jasper had a past when he blindingly followed Alice. That was all that could be said. He knew how to fight, he knew how to win, he knew these things and all this Carlisle could see through the burning red eyes of his newest son and the scars that littered his body. The silent ways Jasper could easily sneak upon another immortal, how he used his lack of voice to his own advantage. Carlisle noticed how Jasper's eyes darted across the room when only the quietest of sounds were made.

One night, as they came back from a hunt to satiate the boy's thirst, they had a quiet talk. Carlisle led the boy to a fallen log that washed up on the shore and they talked about each other's pasts and who they were as they watched the stars fade into day.

Though he was unsure, Jasper became Carlisle's son whether or not it was his own venom that turned the soldier.

Aro felt Carlisle's happiness when Edward had found a mate. He was happy for the boy though he knew, every time Edward was with the girl, he put her life at risk. It did not matter in the slightest if she was or wasn't a vampire so long as his son was happy and he was. His children's happiness brought Carlisle happiness.

Aro lived the regret when the doctor left to hunt while Bella gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, a baby girl that became Carlisle's granddaughter. Aro felt the love Carlisle had for the child as he held her within his cold embrace. How he worried for the child, thinking every day might be her last. How every time he examined the child to see just exactly how much the child had grown in twelve hours, he feared she came closer and closer to death.

 _"_ _I think I make a pretty sexy grandpa…"_ Carlisle smiled at the bathroom mirror with a jokingly narcissistic face when the threat from the Volturi was over. At the time, he knew Renee would live longer than any of them expected.

Aro felt the gratitude Carlisle had for Jacob. For Carlisle, he believed, had it not been for the shapeshifter's influence, the immortal was sure to have been long dead and buried. If not for Jacob, the newborn threat on Seattle all those years ago might have left his coven, his family, broken. If not for Jacob, perhaps things might have ended differently with the Volturi threat, not that they mattered anymore.

Aro felt the fatherly love a patriarch felt when Carlisle laughed with his family, eventually including Charlie, Seth, Leah…to his ever-growing list of people that made Carlisle himself.

Aro felt the pull Carlisle had to Lenore, the pull that made the immortal change her because he couldn't lose her, but now, she was gone. The light Carlisle had seen within her eyes was snuffed out, but Carlisle believed perhaps, the burning flame, lived on in their children.

He felt the absolute hate Carlisle felt for Aro, a man whom Carlisle once considered a father-figure.

Then, Aro's world turned black and nothing was felt. The light switched off with the tearing sound of metal. He could not feel as Carlisle threw books into the fireplace and engulfed the rest of the castle. He could not smell the alcohol as it was poured onto the floors to feed the blaze. Aro did not see Carlisle leave with two small, fair-haired children one held tight in his arms while the other clung onto his hip.

Aro did not see the setting sun.

He did not see the burning blaze that engulfed his body and home.

He did not see a heaven for his soul, nor did he see a hell.

He saw nothing, became nothing.

The empire he built crashed and burned into nothing.

All that was left was nothing.


	23. Neverland

"I killed them. All of them," Carlisle said using the exact words he told Aro with only the wave of a whisper.

"We know," Carlisle heard someone answer. He heard the words and understood them but his brain wasn't making the connection. Carlisle looked at Edward believing him to have spoken. Edward saw the shame written across Carlisle's face, everyone saw it. To do what he could, Jasper sent his father a feeling of uplift. He looked at Jasper and blinked away not rejecting the help but not thanking him either.

"I had to. It needed to be done. They'd become complacent," the father mumbled.

"It's alright…" Bella tried as the coven minus the two newest members sat around the dining room table.

"No! It's not," Carlisle interrupted. "I thought it would fix everything…an eye for an eye…"

"…makes the whole world blind…" Jasper finished.

"Who are they?" Rosalie asked after a brief pause in conversation.

"I assumed you knew. They are my children. With the rate they grow, it must be something similar to the way Renee grew by the hour, only their growing is accelerated far beyond yours," Carlisle answered with a fleeting glimpse at Renee. "They will be staying with us, I am their father much like I am your's," he said looking out to the rest of the table. "That will never change."

"And Lenore?" Edward asked already knowing the answer, only needing clarification. Carlisle visibly cringed at hearing her name. He shrank a few inches deeper into his chair and his eyes strewed shut. He didn't offer to say anything but just shook his head.

"I think it's about time we've moved on," the head of house stated changing the subject completely. "We're supposed to be far older than we look. Humans are beginning to notice," the words that left his lips were, in part, true, but he could no longer remain within the house, not for the time being anyway. Being in the house depressed him to no end knowing Lea once walked those halls, sat in those chairs...the house felt empty though nearly every bedroom was filled.

"Where will we go?" Renee spoke up at the thought of leaving Jake.

"I'm not sure yet but we need to move soon, preferably within the next few days. I had a coworker at the hospital mention to me the other day that I still look the same as when we met," he lied, "that was almost ten years ago. I can't keep up the facade of saying that I'm mature, I'm not showing it on my face."

"We could go back to Alaska," Alice offered.

"No, I doubt the Denali coven would accept that, not after everything that happened between us."

"What about Canada?" Emmett asked folding his arms across the table.

"Depends, how much time has passed?"

"A little less than an hundred years," Edward told him as he was with Carlisle the longest.

"Okay," Carlisle sighed, taking the suggestion into consideration.

* * *

Hours later, after it was decided to leave, Carlisle examined the children out of curiosity. From what he could make of the medical tests, they were nearly the age of ten years old but already the intelligence the two carried surpassed even Carlisle's. They were physically stronger than Emmett which served as a small blow to his ego. The twins even demonstrated their talents and showed a glimpse of Alice's past life, something everyone found intriguing.

This drained their physical energy and they relaxed the entire rest of the day. But now it was nearing ten at night when Carlisle ordered them to bed. The children slept in his room. He tucked them in and as he was about to turn off the light, Aria spoke from beneath the covers.

"Carlisle, do you think our mother will ever come find us?"

"N…no child," he answered staring at the carpet. "Your mother is not coming."

"Why?" The girl asked, her voice breaking with Carlisle's confirmation.

"Because…" he tried as he lifted his hand to look at the ring on his cold finger, "because she's gone away, and she won't ever come back."

"If she won't look for me then I'll find her myself," she told him as turned in the bed. Her back was now facing Carlisle. Tears dripped from the little girl's eyes as her brother shot daggers at the man for hurting his sister.

"No, you can't," Carlisle explained.

"Why not?" She sobbed.

"Your mother," he began as he moved to sit on the bed dropping his hand to his side, "she's…she's…gone off to Neverland." Carlisle's brow furrowed as he gave his best excuse for why their mother would not come for them.

"Neverland?" Ari questioned as her brother laid silently wondering what Neverland was.

"Yes," the father to the unknowing children sighed, "it's a place where she will never grow old. She will never age. She will remain as she was. She will never feel pain or hurt. She flew away with a boy named Peter Pan and a fairy, Tinkerbell, to battle pirates."

"Can I go to her?" Aria asked turning back to Carlisle.

"No, once you leave to Neverland, you can never come back."

"What about Aro? Is he in Neverland? Can he hurt momma?"

"No. Someone like Aro doesn't fly away with Peter. Someone like Aro doesn't go to Neverland."

"Where does he go?"

"People like him go to a place…" he tried thinking of the best way to put it. The twins' intelligence might have been higher than his own, but they were still children and did not understand the concept of death.

"They go to a place where if they were an evil person…" the doctor explained, "they get back what they've done to others in this life for all eternity."

 _Perhaps I will meet him there in hell,_ he thought.

"How do you know mother is in Neverland?" Aria asked wiping tears from her eyes knowing she would never meet her mother.

"Because…I did know your mother. She was the most beautiful thing in existence—both inside and out. She was funny. She was a singer. She was an actress. She was…the most amazing person in every way that I can think of. She loved to write and make up stories. She had a sister and nieces and a nephew. She had people that loved her very much and someone like her deserved to go Neverland."

If he could have, Carlisle would have blinked away tears that welled in his eyes.

"Once upon a time, I knew your father and some might even argue that he died with her and more times than once. He loves her very much from the second he saw her to this very day and every moment after, I know that for a fact." Carlisle remained somewhat illusive to the children that he was their father, perhaps, one day he would tell them.

"If you don't believe me…" he huffed climbing off the bed. He walked over to a small drawer on his computer desk and carefully picked up a picture frame.

"Carlisle…is that?" Aria asked, shooting up out of the bed and snatched the frame. Her brother followed suit. Though he did not say much, he was just as curious as his talkative counterpart.

"Yes," the elder mumbled as Aria studied the picture of her mother Carlisle had kept after the funeral in the church. It seemed like such a long time ago and he felt much older though he would only show the age through the story his eyes told.

"She's beautiful."

"Yes, I'd like to believe so. Now, back to bed," he ordered shooing them on the mattress.

"Don't leave! Please," Aiden begged, still holding the picture.

"I'll be here when you wake. I promise." With that, Carlisle turned off the light and left the bedroom door ajar.

* * *

That night, Aria and Aiden dreamed the same dream. They were younger than they are now and ran in a field of long, yellow grass that reached their hips with flowers that popped out of the earth every five steps. The picture was dramatically warm as Aiden chased Aria with a worm on a stick. They laughed and giggled and cried in all the joyous untroubled ways of children. Carlisle emerged from the border of trees smiling at the children followed by Alice who stood not three feet away. She turned her head and watched as Edward and Jasper fought through the trees rivaling each other in another one of their competitions. Emmett and Rosalie were not far behind along with Bella and Renee.

The day was bright and the air was warm. A simple summer breeze blew rustling the underbrush as the trees shook with the wind waking the birds to sing their songs of content.

"Carlisle..." someone taunted in a sing-song voice from the darkest part of the forrest. The wind died with the banter as everyone listened. The twins turned around and nearly began to run back to Carlisle only to find he was not there. No one was there, it was just the twins.

"Do not forget me...do not forget me...do not forget me..." someone sang over and over as the bodiless voice came from all corners of the clearing. The twins turned to face each other at the same time only to find, their other half was turned into the most terrible monster they could imagine.

It was taller than them and wore black robes that looked too warm for the summer weather. It's head wore shoulder length hair that fell down it's back. But it's face, it's face was charred and had it not been a dream, the children wouldn't know who it was.

"Do not forget me..." he sang over and over like a broken record player. He shakily reached a burned hand out to grab at either twin, but both of the twins had become this monster and could do nothing to stop themselves.

They stood right up next to each other, face to face with all the scorched diamond skin of their countenance.

"DON'T FORGET!" They both hollered in unison waking both children at the same time, with the same cry of terror. They stole a look at each other to make sure the threat died with the dream. Just then, Carlisle burst into the room and flicked the light switch.

"Is everything all right?" He asked, worry making his voice louder. With the speed of vampires, the children ran to him demanding comfort. He picked them both off the floor and carried them back to the shared bed. The children's tears dampened Carlisle's sweater but he didn't care. He laid on the bed propped by the pillows against the headboard and ran his hand through Aiden's hair while the other hand brushed Aria's back.

"Shh..." he comforted as he held them. "It's alright. You're okay, we're all okay..." he whispered into Aiden's hair.

"Is everything fine?" Rosalie asked peeking into the room through the door way.

"Yeah, just a bad dream," Carlisle answered.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked.

"You can run down and grab them each a glass of water," Carlisle suggested, just as the words left his lips, Rose ran down the stairs and was back in the bedroom within the span of a few seconds.

"Here you go," she said, offering the glasses to the twins.

"Thanks," they said at the same time.

"I'll be here if you need anything," Rose said with a bright smile.

"Thanks Kitty," Carlisle said for the inside joke they shared. Rose smiled but shook her head and turned to make her leave.

When she closed the door, Carlisle began, "Do either of you want to tell me what it was about?"

 _"No.."_ Aiden thought.

"We were playing." Aria murmured going against her brother. "We were all there. You, Bella, Jasper...everyone. It was happy, but someone kept singing _"Do not forget me..."_ ," both children shrunk deeper into the bed and snuggled a bit closer to Carlisle at reliving their nightmare. "You all were gone and it was just me and Aiden but we turned into a monster..."

"What kind of monster?" Carlisle asked.

"It was Aro," Aiden shuttered when his sister could not continue.

"He won't get you, I made sure of that."

 _If he comes back,_ Carlisle thought, _I'll kill him again to protect you._


	24. Between the Darkness and Dawn

"I'm going to miss this house," Alice explained as she looked around. It looked different.

Uninviting.

Unfriendly.

Empty.

The bookcases on longer held books. The dining room table was absent a vase of freshly picked flowers. Atop the piano was a white sheet to keep the dust. Things were left certain ways when one knew they were going to be gone and not return for a long while.

Pictures and the graduation caps from past centuries would later add new mates to their ever-growing frames. Odds and ends were put into boxes to avoid fading as much as possible.

"In time, we'll come back. We always do," Carlisle replied but he wasn't sure if he was reassuring himself or his daughter. He led her by her shoulders and out to the front door which he locked behind them.

"We get to start a new life," he said placing the key in the pocket of his jeans. "A new life in a different place just as long as you know wherever my children are is home to me. Wherever we go, we are a family."

"I've always admired your ability to turn a phrase and come up with random bits of poetry on the spot," Alice said turning her head back as Carlisle followed her down the lawn path.

"So have I," he said as they got into their waiting cars and began to drive out of town to start anew.

While he drove, Carlisle thought about the things he was leaving behind: his job, his home, and the lovely Lenore but the memory of her would be in his mind when he took his last look upon the Earth and joined her in the stars so he may dance with his love again.

That day was to come but not today.

 _Not today…_

 _"_ _Carlisle," Alice called._ _"_ _I had it wrong. I said Lenore was going to be with us for a very long time, but it wasn't her in the physical sense."_

 _"_ _I know Alice."_

 _"_ _But you don't understand. I said she as going to be with us but it wasn't her, it was…the essence of her. The thing that made Lenore the woman you loved."_

 _"_ _I know now what it was you saw in that vision," Carlisle said looking out the window and toward Aria and Aiden._

It might have been true, Alice said Lenore was going to be with them for a very long time. But Alice was never wrong. Lea was going to be with the Cullens for a very long time, perhaps, not in the physical sense but she is nonetheless and always should be.

As she was almost never allowed to drive as Alice's visions were many and startling, she sat in the passenger seat of Jasper's car. She watched them drive away from the house reliving in perfect vampire clarity, the memories she made there. She relived every second within a simple heartbeat as she watched the house she'd come to call home disappear in the trees when she had a vision.

Her father and all of his children sat around the table of a new home in a new place. Surrounding them were crates full of things from a recent move, perhaps not this one but one within the distant future.

She knew not of what town they were in or the street name but it was sometime a long ways away as the house's appliances looked to her out of a science-fiction drama.

She turned her attention back toward the table and looked at their faces. The family's skin glowed alight as they sat in the sun that projected itself through the windows. They were left open as the wind blew the trees and pollen particles shifted through the air.

They were playing a card game, something Alice thought peculiar and for the first time in what seemed an eternity, Carlisle smiled. The smile was true as his heart showed through the gleam of his eyes.

He was true.

He was genuine.

Alice knew he was going to survive the events that happened here, in this passing life. But before that could happen, he was somewhere between the darkness and dawn...

* * *

There you have it. The last chapter. The last note from this author for this story.

Thank you all to anyone who's followed, favorited, reviewed or just read it. I'm glad you've come on this journey with me and waited patiently while I was on a hiatus for like two months after Chapter 18. After writing that, I knew where the story was going and how I wanted it to end but I had no idea how to write it. Hell, I had no idea where the story was going when I started writing it and posted the second chapter.

Then, I realized I kinda screwed myself because someone, like you, was reading it and felt I had a duty to fulfill as an author. You were my motivation. You are the reason this story is actually done. Thank you for being my reason to write.

It's bittersweet to say it's over because, while writing this, I grew as a person both in age and every other way I can think. Before I started writing this, I was just a recently graduated eighteen-year-old laying in a hotel room watching _Breaking Dawn: Part 2_ wondering what to write about. As I was writing, I had a summer job working in a zinc mine that was eleven and a half hours long where I didn't have weekends off. Now, I'm studying to be a pilot because I have no idea what I want to do.

It's bittersweet to say goodbye to Lenore and the twins. I could have expanded their stories a bit more. Maybe I'll add a few extra chapters just for the hell of it and I don't quite want it to be over. Maybe they'll be about what the kids are doing in a new home. I don't know yet.

But really, thank you.

As always,

-Your daily dose of romance

P.S. the entirety of this story was based off the song: _Saturn_ by Sleeping at Last.


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